ISD’s Moustafa Ayad speaks with The Times about how extremists target children online

Moustafa Ayad, the Executive Director of AMEA at ISD, spoke to The Times about a UK Home Office plan to ban certain youth from accessing the internet in response to rising radicalisation among minors. Moustafa explained that while it may work at times, if “someone is… really into the ideology, they’re going to find ways to get around that.” 

“Trying to restrict access to the internet isn’t going to solve your problem,” he added. “It’s more about how you can out-compete those ideas.”  

The Times highlighted research from ISD that found how extremists exploit features to bypass moderation tools. Moustafa noted that banning accounts alone is not an adequate solution. 

“In some cases you have accounts that say ‘this is my 46th account after being banned,’” he said. “I think the highest number we’ve seen was some account claiming it was his 110th.” 

You can read the full article on The Times’ website.