LWhen the Islamic State (ISIS) organization claimed responsibility for the November 13, 2015 attacks, the organization was at its peak and its propaganda had just reached the peak of its production. Therefore, the digital field, in which this group is investing heavily, is an important conflict area in the fight against jihadism.
Ten years later, this propaganda, although no longer heard, still cannot be silenced: the persistence of this propaganda is due to the group’s ability to adapt and also to the evolution of jihadist digital content in a Darwinian dynamic of survival. To explicit and frontal propaganda is now added propaganda that is more implicit and less easy to read. These observations remind us of the need for those involved in the struggle against media jihad to make continuous and flexible adjustments.
For groups that carry out asymmetric struggles, from weak to strong, the media field always plays an important role in shaping perceptions and providing compensation in the information field for the asymmetry of power that occurs in the field. But ISIS propaganda has changed the situation. This group, which seeks to establish itself as a brand leader in the “ideological market” of jihadist radicalism, as well as populate its proto-State, has invested in information in an unprecedented way. He created a powerful media structure that rested on three pillars: mass production, highly organized distribution, and varied and mobilizing rhetoric.
Downplaying ultra-violence
Its production reached an unprecedented scale for such a group, with nearly 700 different pieces of content published in August 2015 alone. This production is based on various media: magazines, videos, photo reports, press releases, recordings, Anasyid (a cappella singing). Dissemination, for its part, relies on a network of media relay foundations, which are responsible for translating, disseminating, and sometimes “rebranding.” (reposition) official content, while producing their own material.
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