ISIS terrorist group stopped the media operation for promoting its caliphate

ISIS has virtually given up on promoting the its self-styled caliphate through social media as it focuses on efforts to recruit fighters following major losses on the battlefield, according to a new report.

The output of the group’s propaganda machine was cut by nearly two-thirds during 2017 as its leaders were killed and it suffered major territorial losses in Iraq and Syria, according to analysts IHS Markit.

The most marked drop was in photographs of its military operations and particularly of its efforts at state-building that had been designed to attract civilian families to move to the region.

Its once-slick media operation that saw crews joining fighters on the frontline to make professionally-produced video packages has also been replaced by shaky footage filmed by the fighters themselves, according to the analysis.

The media efforts – largely through the encrypted messaging system Telegram – reflect a shift to what is considered a simpler and more effective propaganda effort focused on claiming responsibility for attacks. They have the advantage of being reported in the international media, said Columb Strack, IHS principal analyst for the Middle East.

“There’s not much of the caliphate left to write about. “They are shifting in terms of the people they are trying to reach,” he said.

Attracting civilians to the area “is no longer a priority and they are trying to attract fighters and defectors from other groups”.

Propaganda images featuring daily life in the so-called caliphate along with ISIL food distribution and infrastructure building efforts fell from 93 of 922 pictures in January 2017 to just three of 249 in December.

“The ISIL narrative no longer features state building and now focuses almost exclusively on the concept of perpetual war against its enemies,” the report said.

The vast majority of pictures now released by ISIL show the group in action, receiving training, planning operations and punishing those it accuses of cooperating with its enemies, said the group.

Source: The National