While Al Qaeda and its ideological affiliates use of propaganda by itself is not especially troubling, the jihadist use of the Internet as a dissemination mechanism is extremely troubling for a number of reasons.
First, the Internet allows the jihadist to tailor propaganda to specific audiences. According to Professor Gabriel Weimann terrorist use the Internet to ?narrowcast? their propaganda to specific audiences. Narrowcasting is the ability to design specific content or even specific web sites that are meant for specific audiences. For example, the Muslim Brotherhood maintains the Awladnaa web site, which is specifically designed for children (Terror Web Watch). In the above example the modification of a video game appears to be designed to indoctrinate and potentially recruit a younger audience. It should also be noted that the video game web application gathers users email addresses presumably allowing the site administrators to build a deeper relationship with the gamer. This relationship may set the stage for a future recruitment into an active terrorist cell.
Second, the Internet allows the jihadist to quickly and easily distribute their propaganda to a global audience and therefore fulfill bin Ladin?s goal of framing a clash of civilizations. For example, the Nicholas Berg decapitation video was widely and rapidly disseminated via the Internet. In fact, the Al Ansar forum that hosted one of the initial copies of the video was removed from the net in the aftermath of the videos release because the amount of traffic generated overwhelmed the web-hosting provider.
Third, the Internet is also used to deliver more nefarious content such as bomb-making recipes and potentially can be used to formulate operational plans (TWW). The marriage of these deadly recipes and seditious propaganda represents a serious threat. These sites can effectively stoke the emotions of the users, provide the religious and ideological justification for an attack, and also provide the willing jihadists with the tools necessary to carry out an attack. It should therefore not be surprise that the British government concluded that the London bombers while not necessarily connected directly to foreign operatives, received tremendous inspiration and guidance, propaganda and training materials posted on the Internet.
To remedy this disturbing trend western law enforcement and intelligence officials should attempt to degrade the credibility of known jihadist web sites. The users of the radical web site must trust that the administrator and other users of the site are committed members of the radical Islamic movement. If a user of these sites does not trust the administrators and other users, then the user may be less likely to post or refer to radical propaganda on the site in fear that their identity might be exposed. Therefore, law enforcement and intelligence officials should consider launching operations designed to reduce the trust radical Islamists place in jihadists’ web sites ? such as exposing the identity of a previously anonymous site administrator.