Google tries to beat ISIS at its own propaganda game

by Teresa Welsh

As he was sentenced to 30 years in jail on Wednesday, Abdirahman Daud begged other Muslims not to fall victim to the Islamic State’s propaganda machine and embrace jihadist beliefs.

Daud, along with two other Somali-American men, were sentenced by the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis for plotting to leave the U.S. to join and fight with the Islamic State group. Mohamed Farah will also serve 30 years in prison, and purported ring leader Guled Omar will serve 35 years.

The three men were arrested last year and convicted in June of conspiring to join a terrorist organization, just one example of what has become a growing challenge for American law enforcement. The government has struggled to identify people at risk of becoming susceptible to Islamic State propaganda and the jihadist ideology the group has been able to effectively spread using the internet.

“I’ve always had energy for justice as a young man, but I lost my way,” Omar said in a Minnesota courtroom Wednesday. “I’ve had feelings I did not know how to deal with. I looked to the wrong places for answers. I don't want to blame anyone, but [the Islamic State group] and its propaganda did take advantage of me.”

Daud said he too was enticed by the terrorist group’s propaganda and didn’t discuss jihadism with parents or other trusted adults, who could have provided an opposing viewpoint to the violent videos.

A new initiative from Google’s think tank Jigsaw is working to solve that problem: People who absorb terrorist propaganda unfiltered on the internet, are radicalized and try to travel to fight with the group.

Read more: https://homelandsecuritynet.com/blog/entry/google-tries-to-beat-isis-at-its-own-propaganda-game