An online minefield

As a repository of information, there is no better resource than the Internet. If you know what it is you are looking for, any knowledge is just a quick search away. But the very aspects that make the Internet such a game changer for information dissemination also allow fertile ground for all sorts of misinformation and propaganda to proliferate. If a library can digitise its collection of books and make them easily available online, so can groups that that adhere to certain anti-social ideologies.

Although the Islamic State (IS) these days seems to be the faintest shadow of the scourge it once was, researchers at the Institute of Strategic Dialogue have stumbled upon an alarming discovery. There exists on the Internet a clandestine cache of more than 90,000 digital items belonging to the militant group that include everything from IS propaganda to handbooks for launching terrorist attacks and establishing terror cells. Even more alarmingly, the online repository is believed to be visited by 10,000 new visitors every month.

The threat posed by such a comprehensive cache of extremist material cannot be understated. Not only does it leave the possibility of spawning IS imitators around the world, the guides it contain will no doubt be coveted by other extremists as well. Racist and sectarian violence already appears to be on the rise in countries that many once looked up to as hubs of stability. The last thing more extremists need is an education on blowing up things.

The challenge no doubt is huge and it is unlikely any individual government will effectively counter it. This is one aspect on which all governments and states should see eye to eye and figure out a collective solution. Overarching measures will seem very tempting to some leaders, but such an approach would do more harm than good. At the same time, there needs to be a concerted investigation on why certain individuals are drawn to extremism in the first place. As with many things, we are likely to discover that the real problem was something else all along.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2020.

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