TERRORISMTeenage Terrorists and the Digital Ecosystem of the Islamic State
As an older generation of Islamic State ideologues, fighters, and propagandists dies out or is arrested, and the center of gravity for the Islamic State as a group shifts to Central Asia and Africa, a younger cadre of supporters is taking up the mantle of support for the group. They are forming the backbone of an unofficial ecosystem of Islamic State support spread across platforms, while evading takedowns and producing unsanctioned content in the name of the group.
For six months, between December 2023 and June 2024, a 12-year-old boy from Besancon, France, downloaded more than 1,700 jihadi videos on his computer and phone.1 He created jihadi characters wielding weapons such as knives, machine guns, and the flag of the Islamic State in online video games.2 He managed six accounts on just as many platforms, posting Islamic State execution videos.3 He engaged in conversations with supporters of the Islamic State on Telegram and Discord, where he also shared videos from his electronic stash of jihadi content.4 Then, on June 2, 2024, the Besancon Organized and Specialized Crime Division launched an investigation into the boy that would result in an August conviction under the “terrorism apology” laws in France.5 a
The news of the 12-year-old Islamic State supporter captured headlines across Europe and globally.6 It also quickly became just another story of a string of 2024 arrests of minors globally under the age of 18 engaged in disseminating content online linked to the Islamic State or plotting attacks across Europe. In 2024, 42 minors in Europe under the age of 18 were arrested for being involved in Islamic State attacks, attack planning or caught in the throes of propaganda operations, according to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Islamic State Select Worldwide Activity Map.7
Playing a central part in of all these arrests was the role of the internet, and specifically the Islamic State’s reach across the open web and the vital role its communities of support online play in radicalization and attack planning and preparation. By the author’s far from complete count, the Islamic State’s cadre of unofficial support groups8 b operating online consists of 93 outlets, some of which are partially defunct and some of which are fully operational at the time of publication.9 c Understanding this ecosystem at this present day and time requires analysis of the breadth and scope of the Islamic State’s digital ‘caliphate’ across social media platforms and the open web.10
Terrorism scholars, academics, and non-governmental organizations have previously conducted Islamic State account censuses of X [formerly Twitter],11 focused on the online recruitment practices of the Islamic State,12 analyzed hundreds of channels on Telegram,13 tracked the Islamic State exploitation of youth-focused platforms such as TikTok and Discord,14 as well as analyzed the Islamic State’s website presence across the open web.15
