Amerika trolt ISIS online

The Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communication is the State Department’s spearhead in this fight and potentially defines the kind of pushback it would like to see friendly countries in the region engage in. Formed in 2010 to counter messaging from Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups, the interagency unit engages in online forums in Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi and Somali. It recently added English, making itself more transparent — and more open to critical scrutiny. Posting on Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube and Facebook, members of the unit question claims made by the Islamic State, trumpet the militants’ setbacks and underscore the human cost of the militants’ brutality. Terror groups in Somalia and Nigeria are also targeted.

When a Twitter user called Islam4Libya on Tuesday posted this: “Video emerging of #Children being killed in #Syria BY #US airstrikes, as if #Assad wasn’t killing them fast enough,” the “Think Again” feed quickly replied: “@ISLAM4L LIES: They say in the video that these children were wounded in Assad airstrikes. Stop recycling footage as anti-U.S. propaganda.”