According to Michael Krona, understanding how terrorism spreads through social media is crucial to providing effective countermeasures against extremism and radicalisation.
For the past three years, Krona, a media and communications researcher at Malmö University, has been studying how Islamic State (IS) communicate through various media channels. While Facebook and Twitter were previously most used, the group’s communication has now migrated to new forms of media. For instance, the app Telegram has become popular. Like WhatsApp, Telegram is encrypted, allowing users to protect their identity, and can be used to chat as well as upload images and videos.