How Extremists Leverage Social Media to Succeed

Violent extremist groups utilize social media to advance their aims, a topic previously explored in a 2022 analysis of the Islamic State's model. This analysis is being revisited to account for the boom in more advanced technology and changes in social media platform ownership. The original work argued that Western counter-terrorism entities may have overstated the effectiveness of the Islamic State's social media strategy. The updated piece explores how these dynamics and the methods of armed groups have evolved in the subsequent years.