With the rise of various extremist groups around the world comes the rise in challenges for social media sites. In 2011, the Somali Islamist group known as Al Shabab took to Twitter to share news and promote their ‘brand’ and similarly, pro-Daesh supporters are now using the same means to spread their messages. Does the use of social media sites as a propaganda tool hurt or help the interests of those in the quest to eliminate such groups?
The focus of this week’s debate is on global extremism online and whether such content should be censored?
These are the statements to be debated:
• By enabling extremists to spread their messages freely, intelligence-gathering efforts can track them better, get a better understanding of the group’s dynamics and what they are up to.
• Social media sites are like “gold mines” of information about foreign-fighter networks, better than any secret sources.
• As an extensive form of media, the Internet should be subject to regulation just as other forms of media are.
• Governments have a moral duty to protect its citizens from harmful sites and should therefore censor propaganda messages.
Participants will be required to clearly state whether they are ‘for’ or ‘against’ the statement and provide their supporting arguments for the same.
If you would like to participate, send us a request at readers@gulfnews.com