Why Is America #Losing the Twitter War with ISIS?

Why Is America #Losing the Twitter War with ISIS?

To be successful against the Islamic State the U.S. need not engage in social media ping-pong.

 

Conclusion

What does success against the Islamic State look like in the social media war? Even if the United States were able to deconstruct and completely undermine the Islamic State’s narrative of military strength and its portrayal of the caliphate as a prosperous place, the Islamic State would likely morph its rhetoric into a narrative of victimhood and defeat as a way to apocalypse and the glory of suffering. To be successful against the Islamic State, therefore, the United States need not engage in Twitter ping-pong, attempting to discredit them tweet for tweet. Rather, the United States should exploit the fundamental weaknesses of the Islamic State’s narrative through Arabic and pictorial reports that rely on transparency. In doing so, the United States will demonstrate that the Islamic State is a lying, totalitarian regime. The failure of the United States to exploit these weaknesses on social media may mean that the next president will be calling for yet another State Department reorganization a year from now.

Ben Jonsson is an Air Force pilot and Regional Affairs Strategist currently studying at the U.S. Army War College. He studied in Amman, Jordan, as an Olmsted Scholar from 2006 to 2008. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Army War College, the United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the United States Government. This article first appeared in the Bridge.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/VOA.