Politico | Jihadists flood pro-Trump social network with propaganda
- Twitter-like social network GETTR was launched on July 1 as an alternative to Big Tech sites
- A POLITICO review found plenty of terrorist propaganda on the network, a few weeks after launch
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Mark Scott and Tina Nguyen on politico.eu on August 2, 2021.
Just weeks after its launch, the pro-Trump social network GETTR is inundated with terrorist propaganda spread by supporters of Islamic State (Isis), according to a POLITICO review of online activity on the fledgling platform.
The rapid proliferation of such material is placing GETTR in the awkward position of providing a safe haven for jihadi extremists online as it attempts to establish itself as a free speech MAGA-alternative to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
It underscores the challenges facing Trump and his followers in the wake of his ban from the mainstream social media platforms following the January 6 Capitol Hill riots.
Isis “has been very quick to exploit GETTR,” said Moustafa Ayad, executive director for Africa, the Middle East and Asia at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank that tracks online extremism, who first discovered the jihadi accounts and shared his findings with POLITICO.
“On Facebook, there was on one of these accounts that I follow that is known to be Islamic State, which said ‘Oh, Trump announced his new platform. Inshallah, all the mujahideen will exploit that platform’,” he added. “The next day, there were at least 15 accounts on GETTR that were Islamic State.”