Terrorism, Facebook-style
A recent New York Times Magazine features an article written by Samantha M. Shapiro entitled "Revolution, Facebook-Style". The article touts the potential for Facebook and similar social networking sites to serve as a "powerful pro-democracy tool" in the Middle East. Shapiro bases her thesis upon recent instances of young Egyptians employing Facebook as a means of organization and communication regarding a variety of issues, including hundreds of Egyptian Facebook members using the site to mobilize in support of demonstrations regarding the recent situation in Gaza, or coordinate aid for Gaza. Yet the Times article fails entirely to address the dark underbelly of social networking in the Middle East--namely the unique capabilities it provides terrorist organizations.
Although Ms. Shapiro concedes that most of the Gaza-related Facebook “Groups” mentioned in her piece "express hatred for Israel and the United States", her article does not at all address the possibility that at least some of these Groups are organized by terrorists, that such entities are often readily identifiable on Facebook, and that they maintain a presence on the site for the specific purpose of channeling funds to Hamas and other foreign terrorist organizations.
Providing material support, including funds and communications equipment to designated terrorist organizations is a crime under U.S. law. Readers might have hoped that Ms. Shapiro would at least address the complexities and challenges presented when social networking tools are eagerly accessed by Islamist terrorists. The article attempts to suggest that social networking sites exist as a competitor to Islamist organizations (many of whom have been formally tagged as terrorists by the U.S. Government). But nowhere in her article does Ms. Shapiro mention that even the most cursory search on Facebook immediately reveals multitudes of designated terrorist entities that have, and continue to, maintain robust and active presences on Facebook.
As just one example, a simple search on January, 24 of Facebook "Events" revealed no less than 19 fundraising "Events" hosted for the benefit of the British-based Palestinian “charity” known as Interpal. Many list Interpal as the host, and nearly all are fundraising events. The Treasury Department designated Interpal as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in August 2003 because of its fundraising activities for Hamas, which has itself been designated as a terrorist group by the United States since 1995.
Terrorist "friending" doesn't stop there. Facebook users who frequently post pictures of friends and family on the site, or who broadcast personal details of their lives, can take comfort knowing that only a few clicks away Facebook “Groups”, “Users”, “Events”, and “Pages” controlled by, among others, Hamas's military wing the “Al Qassam Brigades”, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Hezbollah, co-exist.
Facebook and its social-networking siblings provide cheap, instantaneous, and effective methods and equipment to organize, communicate, recruit, propagandize, and fundraise. Indeed, as observed by former deputy assistant Defense Secretary Michael Doran, "The Internet...is more than just a tool of terrorist organizations. It is the primary repository of the essential resources for sustaining the culture of terrorism." Yet any discussion of the risk identified by Mr. Doran and the facts described in the article seems to have eluded the New York Times.
As a general matter, Americans rightly embrace new technologies and are quick to adapt to them. Unfortunately, so do our most determined enemies.