The fight against "terrorism" on the Internet and social networks

In our ultra-connected society, social networks and the Internet are at the center of our lives. They are important vectors of communication worldwide. Indeed, social networks make it possible to transmit messages on a large scale quickly. Thus, with their development, terrorism has also experienced massive international growth. They no longer go through "forums" or sites considered to be "secret" but rather through social networks. They therefore became for the terrorists the pillar of their propaganda.

What is internet terrorism :

· The majority of the "fight against terrorism" is focused on censorship and the suppression of the apology for terrorism on networks (the apology for terrorism consists in presenting or commenting favorably on terrorist acts in public). For example extremist sites that transmit hate messages, publications approving actions and attentions for example.

· Networks are also way of contact, so we must also try to stop the recruitment of people in these extremist and violent communities. Indeed, the main target of these people are adolescents. They try to make them break their family, cultural, social, friendly ties to indoctrinate them.

The first to fight the apology of terrorism on social networks is us. Who has not already "reported" a publication because it was found to be too offensive, violent, or inappropriate for the platform concerned.

In France, these reports are sent to the administrators who then forward them to a department of the Interior Ministry "PHAROS" who monitor the suspects. But this is not a quick fix. Indeed, in an interview a specialist explains that even with access to the suspects' conversations it is difficult to find key information which is drowned in a mass of information. Despite this, in one year (during 2016) more than 32,000 reports were made for propaganda and advocacy of terrorism and 283 sites were closed. And 90 legal proceedings targeting terrorist activities were initiated in 2015.

According to a report from the 2018 United Nations High-level Conference on Combating Terrorism, member states agreed that "young people have a vital role to play in the prevention of violent extremism. "Young people are the first to adopt new technologies and are therefore at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and violent extremism on these platforms." " It is therefore up to young people the first users of these networks to act as cameras in order to help states.

States also put in place measures, laws and sanctions to try to fight. For example in France, article 421-2-6, I 2 ° of the Penal Code punishes the consultation in sites or the possession of documents provoking directly with the commission of acts of terrorism or by making the apology, "in the purpose of seriously disturbing public order by intimidation or terror. " Currently, praising terrorism is punishable by 5 years' imprisonment and a € 75,000 fine. But there are also laws directly focused on the Internet in general, which allow the authority to block certain sites, or to obtain the withdrawal of certain posts ...

E.T