Janice Yu† | 4 Regent J. Glob. Just. & Pub. Pol. 141

INTRODUCTION

On May 11, 2016, the United Nations Security Council (“UNSC”) requested that the Counter-Terrorism Committee propose an “international framework” to curb “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (“ISIS”)” incitement and recruitment.1 The UN’s urgent request comes at a time when terrorist groups, such as ISIS, have been increasingly using social media platforms as a tool to recruit followers and to incite their followers to commit violent acts.2 ISIS has been notorious for taking advantage of Twitter as a propaganda megaphone through which it blares its extremist narratives to the world.3 Moreover, the way in which social media platforms have enabled ISIS to instantaneously share its narratives with the world with just a click of the mouse has led ISIS to gain a global base of supporters.4 In fact, it would not be an understatement to claim that social media platforms have transformed terrorism by “facilitating both ubiquitous and real-time communication between like-minded radicals with would-be recruits and potential benefactors, thus fueling and expanding the fighting and bloodshed to a hitherto almost unprecedented extent.”5

Consequently, there is a pressing need for an international framework of internet governance on social media platforms to regulate ISIS narratives and to specifically curb ISIS incitement and recruitment through the regulation.6 The proposed international framework, however, must not infringe upon “human rights and fundamental freedoms and [must be] in compliance with obligations under international law.”7 Despite the UN’s recognition of the need to preserve “human rights and fundamental freedoms,” a proposed international framework on internet governance of social media platforms will inevitably implicate free speech rights. In addition, the lack of a universally accepted definition of terrorism raises potential issues with a government’s abuse of discretion. Without a universal definition of terrorism, a government would be able to arbitrarily decide what constitutes terrorist narratives at the cost of regulating merely objectionable yet legitimate content.

In an attempt to propose an international framework for internet governance of social media platforms, this Note will first examine the advantages of social media platforms and how ISIS has adopted these advantages for its own purposes of spreading propaganda, inciting, and recruiting. Then, this Note will present the challenges of regulating social media platforms due to free speech implications and the lack of a universally working definition of terrorism, especially with regard to the United States (“U.S.”) and France, countries that have traditionally placed a high value on the freedom of speech, then Russia and Turkey, countries that have traditionally placed a low value on the freedom of speech. This Note elaborates on these four countries because all are in the fight against terrorism on multiple fronts, including the regulation of ISIS narratives on social media platforms. Then, this Note will explore each country’s regulations in light of its respective value for the freedom of speech. After examining each country’s respective definition of terrorism and attempts to regulate online terrorist content, this Note will propose that the international framework should adopt the U.S.’s multistakeholder approach on internet governance and France’s definition of terrorism to minimize infringing on citizens’ free speech rights. As for specifically curbing ISIS incitement and recruitment, this Note suggests that internet governance of social media platforms through a multistakeholder approach must be accompanied by nuanced approaches in the form of both hard and soft law, that is, broadly speaking, both governmental measures and non-governmental measures.

I. TERRORISM AND SOCIAL MEDIA

“Unlike traditional media . . . in which only a [select group] of established institutions disseminates information[,] . . . social media [platforms] enable[] anyone to publish or access information [instantaneously].”8 This enabling power of social media platforms can give voice to those who traditionally had no platform on which to voice their opinions. However, this same enabling power can also be misused and give voice to those whose opinions, or specifically, extremist narratives, can do more harm than good.9

A. Social Media and Its Appeal

It is undeniable that social media has become a major platform on the Internet that allows users to view and share information in “real time.”10 Specifically, social media platforms in the form of social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, enable its users to view any content they are interested in, and likewise, to share any content they are interested in with not only a limited audience of their choosing, but also with a global audience.11 Furthermore, social media platforms are appealing to users because of the ease with which users can share content, including, but not limited to, images, videos, or messages.12 This ease of sharing such content is facilitated by various factors such as the “accessibility” and “interactivity” of social media platforms and the little to no restrictions imposed on users when creating accounts or posting content.13

In addition to these advantages of social media platforms, there are also psychological aspects as to why users are drawn to social media platforms.14 By granting users nearly absolute discretion in posting about a subject matter of their own choosing, social media platforms encourage self-expression, which consequently promotes the user’s sense of self-affirmation.15 Also, social media platforms emphasize users’ “social connections”16 with seemingly like-minded people around the world when users are able to interact with other users by viewing status updates, tweets, or images and then “liking” or “commenting” on other users’ content.17 In other words, users are able to belong to niche communities that they might not have otherwise found outside of social media.18 Lastly, users may feel empowered on social media platforms because, unlike in traditional forms of media, where only a select group of people such as journalists or reporters have a voice, social media platforms allow anyone, from an ambitious teenager to a retired teacher, to have a say on the current affairs of the world.19

B. Social Media as a Platform for Terrorism

The “growth and communicative power”20 of social media platforms have not gone unnoticed by terrorist groups.21 Rather, terrorist groups have fully adopted the advantages of using social media platforms since these platforms “are by far the most popular with their intended audience, which allows [previously hidden] terrorist organizations to be part of the mainstream.”22 A chilling example of when terrorists began to realize how social media platforms can help disseminate their ideologies into the mainstream “was outlined in a jihadi online forum[, which] call[ed] for [a] ‘Facebook Invasion’”:

† Janice Yu received her J.D. (Equivalent) from the Handong International Law School in 2017. She also received her B.S. from the University of California, Irvine in 2013.

1 Press Release, Security Council, Security Council Presidential Statement Seeks Counter-Terrorism Committee Proposal for ‘International Framework’ to Curb Incitement, Recruitment, U.N. Press Release SC/12355 (May 11, 2016) [hereinafter Press Release 2016] https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sc12355.doc.htm.

2 See Gabriel Weimann, New Terrorism and New Media, WILSON CTR. COMMONS LAB 1, 3 (2014), https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/STIP_140501_new_terrorism_F.pdf.

3 See id. at 1–2.

4 See id. at 3.

5 Bruce Hoffman, Foreword to GABRIEL WEIMANN, TERRORISM IN CYBERSPACE: THE NEXT GENERATION at xi, xii (Woodrow Wilson Ctr. Press 2015).

6 See Press Release 2016, supra note 1.

7 S.C. Res. 2253, ¶ 22 (Dec. 17, 2015).

8 Weimann, supra note 2, at 2.

9 See Shannon Green, Changing the Narrative: Countering Violent Extremist Propaganda, CTR. FOR STRATEGIC & INT’L STUD. (Sept. 25, 2015), https://www.csis.org/analysis/changing-narrative-countering-violent-extremist-propaganda; Shaukat Warraich, Tackling Online Hate Requires a Collaborative Approach, HUFFPOST: THE BLOG (U.K.) (Apr. 5, 2017), http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/shaukat-warraich/tackling-online-haterequ_b_16392310.html.

10 See SOC. MEDIA GUYS, THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA 14 (2010), https://rucreativebloggingfa13.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/completeguidetosocialmedia.pdf

11 Manasa Boggaram, 4 Ways to Reach a Global YouTube Audience, Promolta Blog, http://blog.promolta.com/4-ways-to-reach-global-youtube-audience/.

12 Catriona Pollard, Why Visual Content Is a Social Media Secret Weapon, HUFFPOST: THE BLOG (May 12, 2015, 6:08 PM), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/catriona-pollard/why-visual-content-is-a-s_b_7261876.html.

13 Farzana Parveen Tajudeen et al., Role of Social Media on Information Accessibility, 8 PAC. ASIA J. ASS’N FOR INFO. SYS. 33, 34–35 (2016) (discussing the “impact of social media on information accessibility” and how interactivity positively influences usage of social media in organizations).

14 See Catalina L. Toma & Jeffrey T. Hancock, Self-Affirmation Underlies Facebook Use, 39 PERSONALITY SOC. PSYCHOL. BULL. 321, 327–28 (2013), https://blogs.cornell.edu/socialmedialab/files/2014/01/2013-Toma-Hancock-Self-affirmation-underlies-Facebookuse.pdf (discussing self-affirmation theory, how self-affirmation functions work in everyday environments, and the revealing psychological factors underlying Facebook use).

15 See id. at 322.

16 Id. at 328.

17 See Social Media Best Practices, TUFTS UNIV. OFF. OF COMMC’NS & MKTG., http://communications.tufts.edu/marketing-and-branding/social-media-overview/social-media-best-practices/ (last visited Sept. 23, 2017).

18 See Larry Alton, Niche Social Networks Rise as Alternatives to Mainstream Platforms, SOC. MEDIA WK. (June 6, 2014), https://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2014/06/niche-social-networks-rise-alternatives-mainstream-platforms/.

19 Since the advent of social media platforms in 2002, social media has been increasingly successful in attracting users from all around the world. See The History of Social Networking, DIG. TRENDS (May 14, 2016, 6:00 AM), https://www.digitaltrends.com/features/thehistory-of-social-networking/. In the U.S. alone, there has been a nearly tenfold jump, from 7 percent in 2005 to 65 percent in 2015, in the number of adults who use social media platforms (76 percent of Americans in total use the Internet). Andrew Perrin, Social Media Usage: 2005-2015, PEW RES. CTR. 2 (Oct. 8, 2015), http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2015/10/PI_2015-10-08_Social-Networking-Usage-2005-2015_FINAL.pdf. Research from 2016 shows that nearly 79 percent of online Americans use Facebook, 24 percent use Twitter, and 32 percent use Instagram. Shannon Greenwood et al., Social Media Update 2016, PEW RES. CTR. 3, 4 (Nov. 11, 2016), http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2016/11/10132827/PI_2016.11.11_Social-Media-Update_FINAL.pdf. The number of social media users is expected to rise, not only in the U.S., but across the globe.

20 Hoffman, supra note 5, at xii.

21 See Weimann, supra note 2, at 2.

22 Id. at 3.