Jihadis Exploiting SoundCloud to Spread Messages: Watchdog Group Says
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by Dave Bender
Soundcloud jihadis. Screenshot: MEMRI.
Arab media analysts at MEMRI are claiming that Al-Qaeda and ISIS-affiliated jihadists are exploiting SoundCloud, the “YouTube of audio,” as a channel for disseminating messages and propaganda.
Berlin-based SoundCloud, which is the world’s second largest music streaming service, reaches some 175 million listeners monthly, according to the report. The desktop and mobile apps allows musicians, radio stations, orators, and music lovers to easily collaborate, share and distribute their creations and programming, which provides the Islamist groups yet another avenue to advance their supremacist goals, according to a report published Friday.
SoundCloud’s Terms of Service forbid users from exploiting the “Platform to upload, post, store, transmit, display, copy, distribute, promote, make available or otherwise communicate to the public… any content… that promotes violence, terrorism.”
However, the report lists dozens of groups, including terrorist entities as divergent as al-Qaeda in Pakistan, and the al-Nusra Front operation in Syria, who uploaded instructions, lectures, chants and other material calling for violence against the west, Israel and Jews, and the overthrow of nations to make way for a Muslim caliphate.
Souncdcloud jihadis. Screenshot; MEMRI.
In one example, “the ‘YassmineOkasheh’ account on SoundCloud features a number of songs, anthems and sermons commending the beauty of jihad and martyrdom, including a recording glorifying Osama bin Laden. Posts are typically hashtagged #jihadi or #nasheed; as of this writing this account has 30 tracks and 83 followers.
Soundcloud jihadis. Screenshot: MEMRI.
ISIS radio Al-Bayyab in Mosul, Iraq, began posting news updates to their account in October, 2014, MEMRI noted. As well, “AQAP media wing Al-Malahem tweets files from the ISIS radio station Al-Bayan, in Ninawa, Iraq, which broadcasts news summaries and latest developments, and voice recordings of commanders are also disseminated.”
Soundcloud jihadis. Screenshot: MEMRI.
One user, “Khilafah In Shaa Allah,” a “supporter of the mujahideen” based in “Jerusalem, Palestine,” posted 23 tracks of hypnotic Islamic chants, called nasheeds, praising “the establishment of the Islamic State, and awaiting the coming of ‘Jannah,’ i.e. Paradise.”
