‘90 terrorist tweets every minute’ recorded by Saudi-based campaign

An average of 90 tweets from terrorists are sent each minute, according to a survey conducted in October by the Saudi-based Sakinah awareness campaign.

Groups such as the Syrian Islamic Liberation Front, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and al-Nusra Front have been dormant for a period of time but the recent unrest in the Middle East have led them to turn to social media as a way of getting their messages across.

Abdulmunim al-Mushawah, the campaign head, revealed about 129,600 such tweets were posted per day and as a result 500 accounts run by terrorists were deactivated.

Mushawah called for a national intellectual censorship committee that would detect tweets of an extremist and terrorist nature, analyze them and provide guidance.

He said: “The nature of the extremist can be understood by analyzing his posts, identifying his social circle and understanding his internal motives and history.

“After understanding and recognizing the type of extremist the person is, we can then follow the appropriate method of dialogue knowing that it is a lengthy and complicated process at times.”

The Sakinah campaign has a website accessible to the general public to learn more about terrorist posts and their role in aiding the campaign.

Sakinah also supports scientific research and is open to providing data for researchers who contact the campaign.

The campaign is currently working on a self-help guide and archive for extremists in the community.

He said: “The responsibility of protecting the general public from terrorist activities does not only lie with the official directorates. It is also the responsibility of the media, mosques and educational institutes.

“Public awareness and guidance are the campaign’s top priorities because it is important to teach people how to face one problem without creating another.”

This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on Nov. 4, 2014.