(New York, NY) -- The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) today released profiles of 48 of the most prolific ISIS recruiters, propagandists, and inciters to violence operating on Twitter.
“While extremists misuse multiple platforms, CEP’s focus is on Twitter because it is the gateway drug, the entry point where vulnerable individuals, usually young people, are relentlessly exposed to propaganda and radical content. Today, there are at least 43,000 active pro-ISIS Twitter accounts, endlessly amplifying and repeating ISIS’s messages of hate, violence, and intolerance. The individuals we profile play a pivotal role in ISIS’s ability to reach into homes around the world and peddle its twisted narrative. Their accounts must be eliminated permanently.”
Through #CEPDigitalDisruption, CEP has identified and reported hundreds of extremists to Twitter who incite to violence or make direct threats. In June, the campaign was expanded to include monitoring of Twitter accounts in French, Italian, German, and Turkish. In Congressional testimony on October 28, Wallace laid out five immediate steps that should be taken to more promptly and permanently remove the worst online abusers from social media platforms.
Following is a sampling of the profiles and Tweets from key ISIS recruiters, propagandists and inciters to violence. For profiles of all 48 key ISIS operatives, please click here. All of the profiles can also be located on CEP’s Global Extremist Registry, a unique searchable database and interactive map that includes the world’s most notorious extremist leaders, propagandists, financiers, and their organizations. The information is presented in both list form and graphically on a world map. In either format, users can search, for example, by name, by political leader, by financial leader or filter by extremist group.
Neil Prakash, a.k.a. Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, is an Australian Twitter propagandist, recruiter, and facilitator for ISIS, reportedly the most senior Australian fighting with the terrorist group. ISIS published a guidebook listing Prakash as number 4 out of 19 recommended facilitators bringing foreigners to ISIS-held territory. Through ISIS-produced videos and via Twitter, Prakash has recruited Muslims to ISIS-held territory and urged them to commit violent acts of terror domestically.
“I can not be bothered with the hidden messages anymore! So please message me if you want to kill kuffar [pejorative for non-Muslims].. #IS [Islamic State]” (@AbuK_313, August 30, 2015)
Raphael Hostey, known both as Abu Qaqa al-Britani, and by his rapper alias Abu Qaqa Afro, is a British propagandist, recruiter, and facilitator for ISIS on Twitter. According to London’s Daily Mail, Hostey is part of a five-person ISIS online recruiting team. Hostey’s techniques include theological justifications for ISIS activity, rapping, appeals to video gamers, and even flirting with potential female recruits.
“We’re waiting in Raqqah to behead the PKK. We can smell their blood already. #IS ;)” (@an_Najdee, June 23, 2015)
Sally Jones, a.k.a. Umm Hussain al-Britani, is a British-born recruiter and propagandist for ISIS. Jones has been sanctioned by the United Nations as an agent operating on behalf of a terrorist organization and has been similarly designated by the United States and the United Kingdom. Still, Jones has continued to operate on Twitter, threatening the lives of U.S. veterans Robert O’Neill and Dillard Johnson, among others.
“Released – Address of the US Navy Seal Robert O’Neil who killed Sheikh Osama Bin Laden R.A - #GoForth #RunRobertRun” (@UmmHu55ainBr1t, October 3, 2015)
Abu Suleymaan, a.k.a. @WilayatNinawa, is a Twitter propagandist for ISIS. Suleymaan is an associate of Anjem Choudary, an extremist British preacher and ISIS sympathizer whom authorities have connected to hundreds of British Muslims arrested in terrorism-related cases. Suleymaan has also tweeted about his support for notorioAbu us Islamists such as Osama bin Laden, Omar Bakri Muhammad, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Suleymaan refers to suicide attacks as “martyrdom operation[s].”
“Lets hope Islamic State creates new Wilayat [provinces] faster then i run out of accounts :)” (@WilayatFezzan. September 26, 2015)
Abu Samir Almaghrebi, a.k.a. @F1ollow_the_Haq, is a Moroccan born ISIS propagandist on Twitter. Now living in the Netherlands, Almaghrebi posts messages such as “Fight the kuffar [nonbelievers],” promotes jihad, and retweets other pro-ISIS Twitter users. Almaghrebi regularly encourages his followers to join ISIS’s jihad out of a religious obligation.
“Fight the kuffar, until they pay jizjah & the law of Allah rules on the land Fight them, By the permission of Allah, we will be successful” (@F1ollow_the_Haq, July 28, 2015)
Mad Mullah, a.k.a. @majertenyyyi, is a Twitter propagandist for ISIS who lists his location as “Islamic State, Libya.” Mullah regularly tweets praise for the self-proclaimed “caliphate” and derides kuffar (nonbelievers). Mad Mullah encourages others to engage in violent jihad in many of his tweets, emphasizing that it would benefit them in their next “true lives,” which “begin after their death.”
“Khilafah has a huge manufacturing plant that uses shia blood as a fuel and their bodies as spare parts! Please come!” (@majertenyyyi, June 26, 2015)
EPIC, a.k.a. @EPICcloser, is a Twitter cheerleader for ISIS who appears to be U.K.-based. He regularly promotes the terror group’s exploits and propaganda. EPIC’s Twitter feed is a frequent source of news from ISIS’s area of operations. EPIC also pronounced himself “so happy” over the January killings at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. “Kill them all. Don’t leave a single soul.”
“IS [Islamic State] using mustard gas against enemies. Allahu Akbar.” (@EPIC8, August 24, 2015)