That’s the title of a post last week by Faloja member `Umar `Abd al-Hakim in Syria. `Umar believes that Jihadis have successfully penetrated Youtube and it’s now time to more directly market their materials to the masses. To this end, he gives an overview of Facebook and why it will be useful for Jihadi propagandists. To get the ball rolling, `Umar and others announced a campaign yesterday, “Aid Invasion2” (Ghazwat al-Nusra2). Below is a summary of `Umar’s introductory post, followed by the announcement of the campaign.
Note that the Facebook invaders believe the propaganda front is outside of the Jihadi forums, a point I have made repeatedly. Moreover, this is not an attempt to replicate the social networks that exist on the forums; the members of the campaign want to exploit existing networks of people who are hostile to them and presumably they will adopt new identities once they have posted their material. Additionally, `Umar believes this is a solution to the recent closure of prominent Jihadi forums and channels of media distribution. Finally, the structure of the Nusra2 campaign organization is interesting: compartmentalized and hierarchical.`Umar’s “Raiding Facebook: Theory and Practice”:
- We have already had great success in raiding Youtube.
- American politicians have used Facebook to get votes, like the house slave Obama.
- Anyone can join and you can reach millions of people. The April 6 youth are a good example of this.
- I am writing this because supporters of jihad don’t know how to use Facebook to reach Americans or Muslims.
- Don’t worry about security as long as you don’t disclose your personal info and you use new email addresses to subscribe.
- A large number of people in the Arab world are using Facebook.
- We can use Facebook to fight the media attack on Jihadi media and the forums. We can post media on Facebook that shows the Crusader losses.
- Since Facebook is so widespread, we need to use it.
- By using Facebook, we can move from the forums and engage common people and Americans themselves to show them the reality of their losses, which are being concealed by their media.
- One of the goals of invading Facebook is to “move away from elite society (the forums and the Jihadi websites) to Muslims in general and participate and interact with them.” [parenthetical comments are `Umar’s]
- The brothers should immediately start to build their expertise in using Facebook.
- I’ve called this campaign “Ghazwat al-Nusra2” (Aid Invasion2) because we are aiding our brothers on the forums: Hesbah, Firdaws, Boraq, and Ekhlaas.
`Umar then provides a series of detailed instructions on how to sign up for Facebook.
Yesterday’s announcement of the structure of the campaign follows:
There are seven brigades, each headed by a commander.
- Sharia Brigade: spreads Salafi-Jiahdi doctrine and responding to doubts planted by erring people to misguide Muslim youth. It will distribute articles and audio messages from Salafi-Jihadi scholars.
- Media and Planning Brigade: distributes Jihadi media files and incitement plans
- Statements Brigade: posts Jihadi statements
- Preparation Brigade: distributes military training material
- Security Brigade: distributes security info required for Jihadi media and also security courses
- English Media Brigade: posts Jihadi media and statements in English
- Martyrs and Prisoners Brigade: distributes bios, writings, and videos of martyrs. Also material on prisoners
Each brigade will establish a special group that is secret and not known to the other brigades. There is no contact between any of the brigades. Each brigade will have eight members, who will each participate in at least two groups.
Each commander of a brigade is on the Shura Council, in addition to `Umar `Abd al-Hakim [total of 8 people]. Every week, members of a brigade will write their commander and tell him of their activities. He will pass the reports along to the Shura council, which will then issue a weekly report of the campaign’s activities.
Document (Arabic): 12-10-08-faloja-raiding-facebook-theory-and-practice
Document (Arabic): 12-16-08-faloja-first-statement-of-nusra2-raid
28 Responses
It’s not hard to imagine such a concerted effort designed to expose apostates and critics. I’d never trust Facebook nor Myspace much anyways while Skype gives them huge opportunities to ingratiate themselves into other crowds. On discussion forums there seems to be a tendency for saturation with lots of people registering in short periods of time. The overall objective is to slowly but surely re-direct the topics of discussion, build a consensus in their favor and thereby sap morale.
See also: http://cannoneerno4.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/al-qaeda-terrorist-forum-admits-defeat-against-operation-youtube-smackdown/
Is this the same ‘Umar’ who was behind the “Support Campaign 1,” in the merits & strategy of posting jihadi material to youtube?
If you ever find a link or two to a new jihadi facebook account, please pass it on. I relish the chance to make fun of pseudo-jihadis. It is immensely entertaining.
RH,
It is the same `Umar.
Looking at Facebook stats based on demographics indicates that the largest users of Facebook is not the Middle Eastern countries at all…so I’m not sure what he is referring to when he says that ‘many Arabs use it – the closest is Lebanon followed by Turkey w/in that region. Maybe his close group of friends/social network are using it –
lol! dont worry about security if u use a new email! lol lol lol! i wonder, since jihadis dont know of facebook, if they understand what an internet protocol is!?! THEY WILL FIND YOU IF YOU SHOW THEM WHERE YOU ARE. POSTING ONLINE WILL ALWAYS GIVE AWAY YOUR IP. The CIA probably already is tracking this Umar in Syria as it is. lol. go ahead, guys. give it your best shot.
The group already started 12/09 on Facebook. They had 118 last time I checked and they are recruiting.
It is not funny business or a laugh as you think. They are uploading to facebook Jihadi materials like videos of beheadings.
No, CIA can not track them down GHJOST. They use proxy servers and anonymizer softwares. they are smarter than you think.
I am inside the Fcebook group and there is things happening very fast with it.
The group was shut down. Read this article about it:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,470385,00.html
Hoy en mi blog puse una nota extraida de la pagina ELMUNDO.ES sobre este tema.
Despues de publicar ese articulo que titulaba “Los yihadistas se lanzan a por Facebook como medio de difusión de propaganda” entre a mi FACEBOOK para buscar OSAMA BIN LAH DEN (Asi es como se veia en la imagen) y lo encontre a lo que me fui a ver cuantos AMIGOS tenia y en ese momento tenia 8 amigos.
Me llamo la atencion tan poca cantidad, a lo que pense que como era una cosa nueva quizas se iria agrandando la cantidad de amigos que iban a tener en FACEBOOK.
Ahora a unas 4 horas que publique ese Post me acorde de nuevo y fuia a entrar para ver cuantos mas amigo se habian unido, pero me encuentro que ese usuario no existe.
Mi curiosidad es saber que paso, por que no encuentro a ese usuario que estaba hace apenas horas.
¿Lo eliminaron?
Marcelo Casupa Uruguay
PORFAVOR ALGUIEN QUE ME LO CONTESTE EN ESPAÑOL
***********
Today in my blog I made a note extracted from the page ELMUNDO.ES on this topic.
After publishing this article that it(he,she) was titling ” The yihadistas throw for Facebook as way of diffusion of propaganda ” between(among) to my FACEBOOK to look FOR OSAMA BIN LAH GIVE (This way it(he,she) is like veia in the image) and encontre to what I went away when all the FRIENDS saw tape-worm and in this moment tape-worm 8 friends.
I am called myself few quantity the attention so, to what pense that since(as,like) it was a new thing probably iria enlarging the friends’ quantity that they were going to have in FACEBOOK.
Now at approximately 4 hours that this Post publishes identical me again and fuia to entering to see all the mas friend habian joined, but I think that this user does not exist.
My curiosity is to know that I happen(pass), for that I do not find this user who was only hours ago.
Did they eliminate it?
Marcelo Casupa Uruguay
PLEASE SOMEONE WHO ANSWERS IT TO ME IN SPANISH
VINCULO A LA NOTA DE EL MUNDO:
http://www.elmundo.es/navegante/2008/12/19/tecnologia/1229690310.html
My friend, this spanish news is translation of an older news. The group is already been shut down.
Old article, I know, but I think it is still relevant.
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/06/online_social_networks_expand.php
Online Social Networks Expand a Sense of Community Among Members and Supporters of Extremist Groups
Nice site, keep up the good work.