Top consumers of Islamic State videos from Turkey

The top consumers of Islamic State (IS) videos were from Turkey, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Britain, which registered the largest number of clicks in Europe, a report says
Wednesday, 20 September 2017 19:28

A new study released Tuesday by the Policy Exchange think tank based in London, whose reports often inform government policy in Britain, ranked the top consumers of propaganda produced by the Islamic State, by country of origin, as measured by clicks.

The top consumers of Islamic State (IS) videos were from Turkey, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Britain, which registered the largest number of clicks in Europe.

Data collected between February 19 and May 3 show that pro-Islamic State and Al-Qaeda content was viewed more in the U.S. than in every other country except Turkey, which had 16,810 clicks. By comparison, the U.S. had 10,388, followed by Saudi Arabia (10,239), Iraq (8,138) and Britain (6,107).

Online jihadist propaganda attracts more clicks in Britain than in any other European country and the main internet companies are failing to curb it, a centre-right thinktank has said.

The report is published ahead of a meeting between Theresa May and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to discuss possible new "measures to tackle online extremism". The "snooper’s charter" bill extending the reach of state surveillance in Britain had become law ten months ago. Against a backdrop of "fears of Islamist attacks", opponents have failed to make much headway.

The surveillance law requires web and phone companies to store everyone's web browsing histories for 12 months and give the police, security services and official agencies unprecedented access to the data. It also provides the security services and police with new powers to hack into computers and phones and to collect communications data in bulk. The law requires judges to sign off police requests to view journalists' call and web records. 

Former CIA director David Petraeus wrote the foreword to the report.

The paper suggests that the government needs to step up pressure on the internet companies, and should consider empowering the forthcoming commission on extremism to oversee the removal of extremist content. It also endorses proposals to set up an independent regulator with the power to levy fines on the web companies, and new legislation to make it a criminal offence to possess and consume extremist material, The Guardian reported.

The lead author of the report, Martyn Frampton, said governments and security services had been playing a "fruitless game of 'whack-a-mole' ", which focused on removing individual pieces of content, the report said.

The most popular links were from the encrypted messaging app Telegram, which took the users to content from Islamic State's self-styled news agency, Amaq, known for its claims of responsibility after IS-directed or -inspired attacks. 

The most popular referrer was Twitter (40 percent), followed by Telegram and Facebook. The authors said this demonstrated that while Telegram serves as a "safe haven" for Islamic State supporters, they "have not abandoned other platforms" in the mainstream for outreach efforts.​