Jihadists in East Africa, particularly Harakat Shabaab Mujahideen, the Al-Qaeda affiliate, have reconstructed their online media system and networks. This has happened during the period between 2017 and 2018 after a decline in cyber warfare targeting the terror group’s virtual and social media capability. The resurgence of Al-Shabaab Mujahideen terror group propaganda websites and social media channels is itself an early warning that the group is again morphing and re-calibrating its current strategy in East Africa.
According to S.I Counter Terrorism Research (S.I-CTR) within the last 1 year, social media has become the principal platform for the dissemination of the ideology of jihadism. It is sad to note that intelligence organizations, international, and local media houses are now quoting or referencing terrorist’s websites and blogs as sources of intelligence and news. What we are witnessing is the silently exponential growth of jihadist fora. Within that period HSM has rebuilt their media houses and are producing ‘high-end’ productions, sophisticated critiques of prevailing narratives, and outmatching cyber technologies.
Such a robust propaganda machine can completely outmatch concerted efforts by governments to stymie terror. We have seen scholars use jihadist propaganda and furthering it as part of their scholarly articles and research findings. Jihadist’s content has been used by international media houses to even attack the military capacity, capability, and even value of African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The jihadist media are now advanced and far from alone as mainstream media amplifies what they disseminate, freely. The functions of the new jihadist media and the ways in which it has been granted legitimacy will significantly facilitate radicalizing efficacy and recruitment denting the gains made in recent past.
