The Obama administration is convening a meeting this week to discuss efforts to counter the propaganda of the Islamic State and its recruitment of Westerners to become terrorists.
The meeting scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at the Justice Department involves government officials as well as dozens of representatives from advertising and social media companies and Silicon Valley. It will be followed by a reception at the White House.
The summit reflects ongoing concerns about slick Islamic State propaganda that encourages disaffected young adults to join the terror group’s cause in Syria or to commit acts of violence closer to home. Officials and private sector executives have been brainstorming ways to fight that messaging, which has often spread through social media platforms such as Twitter.
The Justice Department in the last year has brought charges against dozens of people tied to support for the Islamic State, many of whom were drawn to online propaganda.
“Over the past year, organizations and companies across a range of industries have asked how they might contribute to efforts to counter radicalization and recruitment activities by ISIL and other violent extremists,” the Justice Department said in a statement Tuesday.
The government recognizes that the private sector has “a crucial role to play in developing creative and effective ways to undermine terrorist recruiting and counter the call to violence,” the statement said.
The meeting takes place amid an ongoing technology encryption clash that has divided the Obama administration and Silicon Valley, though a government official said the meeting had nothing to do with that topic and was planned long before the current flare-up between the Justice Department and Apple Inc. over access to a locked iPhone became public last week in a California court.
In that matter, a federal magistrate has ordered Apple to help the FBI gain access to a phone used by one of the gunmen in the December terror attack in San Bernardino. The company is expected to file a written objection on Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Wendy Luckie says
Really burns me this destroyer of America receives SS protection for life!! Maybe he’ll start chain smoking again when he goes back to HAWAYA!! Or……….. Some gancho like they sell to kids in New Hampshire. Murdering drug dealers have flooded this country with filth that KILLS our youth bc of the damn porous BORDERS!!!! Please go away Hussein.
Wendy says
And what does this have to do with drumming up a social media counter-campaign to Daesh? Is bashing the Executive Anus such a habit with you that you can’t even recognize when he’s doing something RIGHT? Hey, even a broken clock can be right twice a day!
Peter Joffe says
Its is sad the the greatest asset of Democracy, freedom of speech, is also its greatest weakness. We allow words of hate and words of destruction to pervade our space but get objections from the guilty when they are challenged. The sign wave of the world is well in motion. Dictatorship to freedom, freedom to excesses in that freedom and then back to dictator ship to shut the mouths of those who spread hatred and lies.And so it goes on and right now we are approaching the need to shut down freedom of speech as it is being used as freedom to sew evil.
Maxx says
Typical actions of a liberal lame a$$ coward.
Gray Frazier says
Personally, I doubt he’ll go home to Hawaii.
I think he will be given a palace by whatever rogue country has used him in its attempt
to destroy America.
Justin W says
The best way to fight ISIS sympathizers on social media is to track them down and arrest them. Although, social media may have the ability to discourage some young people from getting mixed up with terrorist groups. We have to realize many of the below 30 crowd have grown up with a level of technology and social media exposure that older Americans don’t fully grasp.
Wendy says
How you gonna do that when you’re not even in the same country? I mean, look at how successful we’ve been at stopping Nigerian email fraud! And we were working on that YEARS before Daesh showed up.
Richard claro says
Obama ought to be in jail for treson for letting china getting hold of our new jet plane.Don’t impeach obama just arrest obama for his high crimes against america’s people.
Wendy says
Yes. Impeach him. Don’t let him go down in history as a two-term POTUS.
Gray Frazier says
Excuse me…All I see is a two-team Loafer, who hides behind the title of POTUS.
Obama has used that office for nothing thaty will ever assist this country and, when
the clock strikes 12 noon, January 20, 2017, the joy of the nation will begin…That is,
unless the voters are dumb enough to replace him with Billy-Bob’s ol’ lady.
Cheryl says
I totally agree with you.