Obama’s anti-ISIL push falls flat on social media

The White House has floundered in its attempt to enlist social media companies in the messaging war against ISIL as Washington seeks to counter the terrorist group’s prowess online.

 

The administration made clear it expected the tech world’s help at an anti-terrorism summit in February, saying the industry would take a lead role in developing the Internet pushback against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. But six months later, companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter have largely avoided getting involved, according to interviews with more than a dozen U.S. officials, tech representatives and civil society groups.

 

The industry is wary of appearing too cozy with the government after the backlash over NSA surveillance. And the companies view the messaging push as outside their mandate.

 

Twitter is an “open platform for free expression,” Colin Crowell, Twitter’s public policy director, said in an interview this week. “What we don’t do is messaging strategy,” he said. “The message that has the most resonance and the greatest integrity is the one that comes from the individuals and organizations [on the ground], not the message from Twitter Inc.”

 

The faltering effort is just the latest example of a troubling trend for the administration: While ISIL uses social media to grow its movement, by grooming curious teenagers and circulating gruesome videos designed to go viral, the U.S. online response is crawling at bureaucratic speed. The government’s main vehicle to counter the group’s messaging on the Internet — a State Department Twitter account urging people to “Think Again” about joining or supporting ISIL — has drawn scorn from lawmakers like Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who has called it “laughable” for its lack of engagement.

 

Read More: Obama’s anti-ISIL push falls flat on social media – Nancy Scola – POLITICO