Moustafa Ayad spoke to POLITICO about ISD’s research into online Islamist networks on mainstream social media, despite platform policies banning extremist content.

Speaking on the prevalence of ISIS affiliated groups on Facebook, Twitter and Telegram, Moustafa told POLITICO, “They are linked to a wider unofficial ISIS news ecosystem that has figured out specific evasion tactics, even despite takedowns, to thrive and to continue to do so.”

“ISIS supporters have figured out a way to use multiple platforms in an increasingly sophisticated way,” Moustafa said,  “Why would they develop an emoji code to describe certain things on Facebook and not use that same emoji code on Telegram? It’s about using different tactics.”

Moustafa Ayad is the Executive Director for AMEA at ISD.