‘Online radicalisation, a potent threat’

Expert suggests hiring tech-savvy youths to counter radical extremist propaganda on social media.

With cases like the arrest of pro-IS tweeter Mehdi Masroor Biswas in the city last December causing concern over radical propaganda on social media, all efforts of law enforcement agencies can be successful only by disengaging such youths from terror groups as it is difficult to deradicalise them, said Prabha Rao, Special Secretary, GoI.

This leads to the risk of youths returning to the fold of extremism and needs constant vigilance, he said at the two-day international conference ‘Cyber 360’ on cybersecurity issues in the city.

Former city Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi, who made a presentation on the Mehdi case and how he leveraged the social media for cyberterrorism, said Mehdi neither knew Arabic nor travelled out of the country and was self-radicalised through the Internet.

Ms. Rao said that the threat of online radicalisation was very potent and relevant in today’s world.

The government runs the deradicalisation programme at three levels – macro (legal framework), meso (engaging respected theologists to put forward counter narratives), and micro (counsel individuals through family and peer groups).

“But most times, deradicalisation is not effective though we may be able to veer them away from violence,” she said.

However, Sultan Al-Qassemi, commentator on Arab affairs known for his use of Twitter during Arab Spring, felt the need to think out of the box to counter tech-savvy radical propaganda on social media.

Hiring tech-savvy youths, even interns from tech schools, to monitor and counter radical extremist propaganda on social media was the need of the hour, he said.

“These radicals use new urban slang and acronyms that go off the radar of traditional policemen. We need to think out of the box and converge our energies,” he said.