On January 11, 2015, Al-Battar and Al-Ghuraba, two media groups affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), operating under the Media Front umbrella, initiated a campaign on Twitter using the hashtag #FightForHim. The hashtag was used over 3,000 times in less than 12 hours following the campaign launch, with messages of support for the Paris terrorists Amedy Coulibably and the Kouachi brothers.
The campaign is meant is to stress the importance of fighting in the name of the Prophet Muhammed in order to protect his honor and spread his message. The tweets and re-tweets threaten the west with more attacks and fighting to come, and incite Muslims in the West to emulate the examples set by the Paris attackers to strike against Western targets. The tweets were mostly in Arabic and English. The campaign was launched through the Al-Battar Media account (@ProphetsKhilafa) and contained messages users could share, as well as infographic images with quotes from the Koran and from Yemeni-American Sheikh Anwar Al-Awlaki.
Official jihadi groups have been known to regularly use hashtag campaigns to spread information and distribute material rapidly on Twitter.
To request a full copy of this MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor report, send us an email with the report title, number, and date in the subject line, and include your name, title, organization, and official contact info in the body of the email.
Latest Posts
