The use of technology by terrorists in West Africa must be contained

When al-Shabaab attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2013, the group live-streamed the horrifying event on Twitter, taunting authorities struggling to end the siege. This represented a chilling step in the militarization of social media platforms and demonstrated the boldness and adaptive nature of African armed groups.

Nearly a decade later, terrorist groups in West Africa are refining their tactics to hijack social media platforms and messaging apps. Parts of the region are home to the fastest growing and deadliest violent extremists, the Global Terrorism Index reveals. And there has been a steady increase in incidents where social media platforms and messaging apps have become part of the modus operandi of extremists.

As the physical and online worlds merge, many groups, particularly al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), are integrating the internet more deeply into their operations, according to researchers such as Bulama Bukarti of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change . Moreover, given their decentralized nature, these groups prove to be more difficult to intercept and reach an online reach that would not be possible in the physical world.

A recent workshop in Ghana organized by Tech Against Terrorism (TAT) exposed the expansive nature of online terrorist content in West Africa and highlighted strategies to mitigate the risks. TAT is a non-governmental organization created by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate to forge links between technology platforms, universities and civil society.

Violent extremist groups in West Africa, particularly in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, use the internet to spread propaganda, recruit, radicalize and incite attacks, and fund and plan their operations.

DErin Saltman, former head of Facebook's Counterterrorism and Dangerous Organizations Policy section and now head of programming for the Global Internet Forum to Combat Terrorism (GIFCT), a TAT partner, is a leading voice plan in this area. She says more efforts are needed to encourage tech companies to "prevent and respond" to online terrorism by increasing their transparency and reporting while respecting human rights.

Extremists are now using smaller platforms to circumvent controls aimed at removing terrorist content, says Anne Craanen of TAT, which monitors developments in West Africa. For example, AQIM – arguably the most aggressive user of online communication in the region – uses “flagship” websites to attract Internet traffic to smaller sites. It also uses "aggregators" designed to offer viewers a group of links to the same terrorist content, in order to evade content moderation.

While large platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp have the resources to offer some degree of content moderation, many smaller operators do not. These are the ones that terrorist groups prefer.

Other groups such as the splinter faction of Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), appear to rely on messaging services such as WhatsApp and Telegram to communicate online. internally and externally, as they prefer the encrypted nature of these applications. "Telegram is becoming the new front line for terrorist groups in Africa," warns Bukarti. "At last count, ISWAP had over 50 Facebook and Telegram accounts." Moreover, "there is no control; no one seems to care in Africa.

Whether it is recklessness, insufficient research or competing political priorities, there is no doubt that violent extremist groups in West Africa are deploying technology differently.

Before splitting into two factions, Boko Haram was less aggressive in its use of the internet, Bukarti says. Nonetheless, it still enjoys heavy user traffic, especially to YouTube sites hailing the group's founder Mohammed Yusuf. Alongside the accessible content are paid ads, suggesting that tech companies are "making money from terrorist content", Bukarti says, as more views boost the platform's revenue. Although it may be unintentional, optimizing site traffic is part of the business case for internet platforms.

What are the incentives for tech companies to respond? Do business imperatives dominate or can reputation management help encourage responsible use of cyberspace? Larger players such as Meta (formerly Facebook) have reacted to outside pressure and developed "formal processes" and "dedicated channels" to handle requests to remove terrorist content, according to their policy...