Let’s Take Social Media Back From Terrorists!

ISIS and other terrorist groups are using social media to recruit and brainwash their members.  It seems that after every major terror attack, including this week’s horrible attack in Chattanooga, we find a trail of radical comments and threats that the terrorists made in the months leading up to the attacks and afterwards.

Well let’s take social media back from the terrorists!  Instead of letting them use it for their advantage, let’s use their own posts to defeat them. 

In an op-ed for Fox News, John Matthews, explains how he thinks we can do this:

Well, if social media can work for ISIS in recruiting these self-radicalized terrorists or individual lone wolf attackers, it can also work against them. As concerned citizens and guardians of our communities we the people can mobilize to report posts from potential lone wolf attackers who seek to injure and kill others. A familiar mantra from law enforcement over the years has been to stay vigilant in our fight against crime. Today, staying vigilant online is just as important—and, as demonstrated by a recent case in Canada— can result in saving lives.

This past February, a Geneva, Illinois woman was arrested in Canada for a shooting plot after leaving a trail on social media, including a post prior to her arrest that said “Let’s go commit mass homicide.”  Lindsay Souvannarath posted disturbing pictures advocating race hatred, an allegiance to Hitler and Nazi beliefs, bizarre photos of herself and others, and what appeared to be a fascination with mass killers and their handiwork, especially the Columbine High School shooters and their tools of murder. Police received a tip about a couple planning a Valentine’s Day massacre at a mall in Halifax, Canada, and she was arrested by Canadian police on charges of conspiracy to commit mass murder. Her partner in this thwarted crime committed suicide before authorities could take him into custody.

If you see anything shady or strange posted by someone you know on social media, report it!  If we are all vigilant, maybe we can stop horrible attacks like what happened in Chattanooga this week from happening again!

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