Australian Information Warfare and Security Conference
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publisher
Security Research Institute, Edith Cowan University
Abstract
The influx of virtual media platforms has allowed extremists and terrorists to transmit their messages to wider audiences without passing through a gatekeeper or being a subject to editorial policies existed in traditional media outlets. Thus, extremists and terrorists exploit virtual media platforms to report their actions; propagate their ideologies and ultimately to boost their objectives, because these mediums enabled them to have control over time and space. As a result, some governments work to deprive extremists and terrorists from this 'oxygen' through monitoring the cyberspace to block the suspected virtual media platforms. The reactions of some governments to face the extremists and terrorists' manipulation of virtual media platforms have shown currently that the Internet is the main medium of transmitting extremism and terrorism. In a similar vein, some key Islamic figures, such as the Grand Mufti of Australia, blames the Internet on radicalising young Muslims. Drawing on this assumption the question is: Is the Internet the main medium of transmitting terrorism? This paper answers this question, considering that the Internet is just a medium to transmit extremism and terrorism, because the heinous ideologies and callings for violence are transmitted historically and still by other means of communication.
DOI
10.4225/75/57a84f70befbd
Comments
16th Australian Information Warfare Conference (pp. 24-28), held on the 30 November - 2 December, 2015, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup Campus, Perth, Western Australia.