Servers used by Islamic State propaganda sites taken down
PARIS — Police in Europe, the United States and Canada have seized servers and data from Islamic State propaganda outlets in a multicountry operation aimed at tracking down radicals and crimping the group’s ability to spread its violent message.
The two-day operation was the culmination of efforts started in late 2015, after co-ordinated ISIL attacks that killed 130 people in Paris, according to a statement from European police agency Europol.
Police notably targeted the ISIL-branded Aamaq news agency, as well as al-Bayan radio, and Halumu and Nasher news sites.
Aamaq spreads information online in at least nine languages and has been used to claim ISIL was behind attacks in multiple countries, from the 2016 nightclub attack in Florida to a deadly supermarket hostage-taking in southern France last month.
The operation was led by Belgian prosecutors and also involved authorities in the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Romania.
Canadian officials were saying little Friday. “Terrorist organizations like Daesh continue to use the internet to recruit new members and radicalize people to their violent ideology,” said Dan Brien, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, using the Arabic name for the Islamic State group.
“Identifying and removing this material is a priority for law enforcement agencies around the world. As this relates to an ongoing law enforcement operation, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further.”
While Europol said the operation “punched a big hole in the capability of ISIL to spread propaganda online and radicalize young people in Europe,” it didn’t shut down the propaganda altogether. For example, Nasher continued to share ISIL statements and Aamaq reports Friday through channels on encrypted messaging network Telegram.
The Islamic State group has used sophisticated and everchanging communications tools to spread its apocalyptic message to disillusioned Muslims living in the West, to persuade them to reject Western ideals of pluralism and tolerance. High-quality videos, complete with thrumming beats and slick editing techniques, have unlimited reach thanks to social networks. Extremists with gentle American accents narrate radio broadcasts aimed at U.S. internet users.
European authorities involved in the operation said it showed the importance of international co-operation in fighting online radicalization, which has helped fuel deadly attacks in multiple countries in Europe and the U.S.
It aimed “to destabilize this apparatus by seizing and dismantling servers used to diffuse ISIL propaganda and to identify and arrest its administrators,” the Belgian public prosecutor’s office said.