Beheading’s World Cup Hashtag Shows Islamic State’s Online Savvy
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Tweets and online videos are emerging as weapons of war in the Islamic State’s campaign to seize a swath of Iraq, with the al-Qaeda offshoot’s use of social media dwarfing efforts by other militant groups.
Over the weekend, websites previously used by the Islamic State featured a video purporting to show its leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, delivering a sermon in the captured city of Mosul. Two weeks ago, an audio recording posted online proclaimed a caliphate across the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria.