The objective of this qualitative study is to raise awareness of the online presence of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Shabaab and Boko Haram by analyzing and comparing their social media activities. The decision that the above-mentioned terrorist organizations shall be selected for inclusion was based on the fact that (I.) they are active in Africa, (II.) they are currently or affiliated with three of the deadliest international terrorist groups in the continent and (III.) they use social media in order to achieve their goals. I conclude that social media is used by all three of the studied terrorist organizations with special attention devoted to mainstream social media platforms, namely Twitter, YouTube and -to a lesser extent -Facebook. Additionally, AQIM, al-Shabaab and Boko Haram seem to have primarily used social media for propaganda purposes, although it was also utilized as a recruitment tool, albeit to varying degrees. Finally, I believe social media can also be used for coordination and funding by the studied terrorist groups; although the small amount of publicly accessible evidence entails qualitative problems, indicating the fact there is room for further research.
In 2015, after Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and became the Islamic State West Africa Province, online social media’s dominance was nearly instantaneous. This paper analyzes whether Boko Haram’s use of social media results in more effective recruitment and, if so, what trends can be observed in the former that contribute to the latter. I conclude that social media plays an instrumental role in the terrorist organization’s online recruitment since Boko Haram can disseminate instant messages to large online audiences while also exercising control over their visual content. Additionally, Boko Haram’s use of social media ties into recruitment as there is a link to radicalization, religious indoctrination, and sharing its narrative. Finally, the group uses social media to depict itself as the winning entity by representing strength, unity, and taking advantage of the country’s anti-government sentiment. While online influences are undoubtedly crucial for recruitment, it must be emphasized that they are usually coupled with offline physical connections in the Nigerian context.
In this study, the authors seek to address the question whether Boko Haram can constitute a threat to European security. Toanswer this question, one mustanalyse recent Nigerian migration patterns to Italy, actual reports, peer-reviewed academic works, a wide variety of regional journals and media articles. By evaluating all available research sources, it can be concluded that the answer is not as clear-cut as one might thinkat first glance. On the one hand, we could argue that a terrorist group like Boko Haram cannot constitute a serious European security threat, since the majority of Nigerians arriving in Europe seems to have decided to flee their country of origin due to economic, social and security reasons, therefore, these migrants have nothing to do with terrorism. On the other hand, we could also argue that Boko Haram can pose a threat to European security, by taking advantage of migration flows and inserting its own soldiers, thus creating terrorist cells within them. We have found plenty of evidences related to the terrorist organisation’s increased use of women as soft targets and the potential re-radicalisation of traumatised children in Europe. Since its alignment with ISIL in 2015, there has been growing concern that Boko Haram could follow suit with focusing its efforts on refugees, infiltrating migration flows and thereby creating a significant security risk to Europe. However, in recent years the number of Nigerian migrants arriving in Europe has been decreasing, which could be justified by tighter links between African and European governments and by stronger European control. If this continuous cooperation and tight internal European border security andpolice procedures are to remain, there is less chance for Boko Haram to constitute a threat to European security.
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