The role of social media in promoting terrorism: a case of Somalia

Abstract

This study was about the role of social media in terrorism a case of Somalia. Today, the Somali conflict is largely a contest of wills that has taken place in Somali minds and the battlefield, targeting the attitudes and behaviors of citizens. The Al-Shabaab runs independent FM radio stations and dominates the online media through social media sites. However, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) relies on the traditional social media like radio talk shows and press releases. Following the progressive and massive usage of social media, some studies have been conducted about ICT, individual media groups but little is known about how the social media has facilitated the terrorism activities in Somalia. The study was guided by the “Uses and gratifications theory”. According to Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch's (1974) the theory assumes that to satisfy their psychological and social needs and desires, people choose social media and enjoy its content. The research based on three basic objectives that is; examine the relationship between Social Media use and Terrorism threat in Somalia, to examine how Al-Shabaab use social media in its terrorist activities and establish possible measures on how to address Al-Shabaab’s narratives and propaganda. The researcher employed desk research data collection methods, which involved reviewing and examination of existing documents and literature and a qualitative research approach. The study findings indicate that there is a relationship between social media and terrorism, social media helps in spreading propaganda, recruitment, communication with other colleagues and radicalisation. Therefore, the Somali government and her allies have to counteract the terrorist tactics on social media, hack into their systems, and make collaborations with other security agencies so as to bring to an end the social media activities and their threat on security of Somalia.