The U.S. government is recruiting tech titans Facebook, Twitter, Google; community organizations and educational groups to take command of the online war against radicalization.
A meeting was held last week between the government and social-media companies, and was seen as a “recognition that the government is ill-positioned and ill-equipped to counter ISIS online,” reports Seamus Hughes, deputy director of George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.
The Muslim community is also getting involved in the efforts. WORDE, a Muslim educational organization in Maryland, launched a campaign last week which combats the narrative of ISIS destructive messages with catchy videos and live broadcasts of discussions about mainstream Islam.
Mohamed Magid, a Virginia imam who has counseled several youth targeted by ISIS recruiters, leads a 24/7 online Islamic foundation which negates ISIS deadly messages with peaceful ones. “If we say this is a government thing, it might not have legitimacy,” says Imam Magid. “We’re challenging the Muslim community to say, on this, yourself, respond to the challenge.”
