Jihadist propaganda spreads via Tik Tok

In the context of the fight against terrorism in Spain, state security forces and agencies are already paying attention to Tik Tok, after the arrest of many radicals and supporters of the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations on such a platform.

Tomorrow Wednesday, four defendants will appear before the Spanish national court for “glorification of terrorism”. Among them is a TikToker with 370,000 followers, who the police arrested when they noticed he was ready to “take action”. Furthermore, three other defendants are said to have published “constant calls to behead those who blaspheme against the Prophet Muhammad. » Currently, the Spanish prosecutor’s office is asking for three years in prison and a fine of 2,520 euros for each of them.

Concerning the last three accused, they are of Pakistani origin and were arrested in February 2022, in different provinces, as part of a police operation against supporters of Sheikh Khadim Hussain Rizvi, founder of the radical party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan in 2015. (TLP). The supporters of this party, with his approval, committed murders in response to blasphemy in Pakistan.

In writings from the prosecution published by Europa Press, we see that, among the accusations, the accused had used Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook to praise various perpetrators of jihadist attacks, like those who participated in the attack against the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo magazine, or the beheading of Professor Samuel Paty, in France. In these publications, the accused described the terrorists as “heroes of Islam”.

Likewise, the General Information Commission of the Spanish National Police arrested a 25-year-old young man of Moroccan origin for calling for jihad on the networks. With 400,000 followers and a few posts with nearly four million likes, His proclamations were primarily directed against Jews and members of the LGBTI community. . His profile also included threats to “slit the throats of the enemies of Islam”.

Due to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, this young man had intensified his radical discourse. He even made specific threats against users who criticized his comments.

In the UK, the Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok accounts of the Hizb ut-Tahrir group, banned in parts of Europe and the Middle East, have been deleted. This decision by London came after chants in favor of “jihad” were heard during a pro-Palestinian demonstration a few weeks ago. T The demonstrations took place in front of the Turkish and Egyptian embassies.

The Metropolitan Police, at first, assured that there was no “offense” in the songs, which ended up sparking criticism of the institution from the government itself. After the Hizb ut-Tahrir group shared videos of the protest, Meta would have classified it as a “dangerous organization”. AND Meanwhile, the Tik Tok account has been deleted.

The presence of jihadist groups on Tik Tok had already been detected a few years ago, when the platform was launched. The media Prior Raw Story, in 2021, noted that by simply searching for the word “Muslim”, one quickly ended up finding propaganda sympathizing with the Islamic State, calls for jihad and videos in favor of anti-Semitism. and underage marriage. Much of this content was accompanied by the black flag emoji, symbolizing the flag of the Islamic State.

Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, in their respective times, took advantage of social media to spread their ideas. With new social networks emerging, and while Facebook is reviewing its algorithms with the aim of making users as “addicted” as possible, “Different groups use networks as a recruitment tool. In these cases, recruitment is not about an individual researching their cause, but about their cause being promoted to the individual without any effort,” explains Prior Raw Story.