ISIS Fights Virtual War in Cyber Horror Show

The Iraqi government ordered a shut down of social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, but in the anarchic world wide web censoring anything is impossible.

ISIS has its own app. called The Dawn of Glad Tidings which was launched in April. On the day of the invasion of Mosul the app. produced a record number of 40,000 Tweets posted in one day.

Media-savvy ISIS is also spreading its message by using thousands of supporters to re-Tweet postings prompting a place on the trending charts and attracting main stream media.

On Sunday, as the media reported on the group’s advance toward Baghdad, hundreds of Dawn app users began sending thousands of tweets featuring an image of an armed jihadist gazing at the ISIS flag flying over the city, with the text, “We are coming, Baghdad”.

ISIS's purpose is to shock and glorify their own handiwork - but also attract new members so we can sadly expect a lot more of this cyber horror show.

John Cookson has been reporting from Iraq for 25 years for international news channels including Al Jazeera English and Sky News.  Twitter: @Newsman1000