The Evolution of Terrorist Propaganda in Cyberspace

This chapter reviews the use of online platforms for terrorist propaganda and the proliferation of online terrorist propaganda over the years. Terrorism, from its early days, relied on the use of mass media to spread fear, to launch propaganda campaigns and to recruit sympathizers and fighters. Technological advances in communication technologies provided terrorists with the opportunity to produce media-oriented spectacles of terror. However, terrorist attempts to use the mainstream mass media were often blocked by the media's gatekeepers and regulations. Thus, the move to cyberspace was inevitable. The Internet, the most open and free channel of communication, provided terrorist propaganda with the ideal platform.