Running head: TERRORISM IN THE US 1

Terrorism in the United States

Annalycia Morales

Arizona State University

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Abstract

The following is an argumentative essay about the influence of social media on terrorism in the

United States. Social media has been the gateway or the first step to many of the attacks that

have occurred recently. Attackers have had their motivations fueled or started by propaganda on

the internet. If the government was permitted to monitor social media and internet activities there

might be a better chance of catching suspects before an attack can occur.

Keywords: ​Terrorism, United States, Jihadists, Threat

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While there is no concrete definition, terrorism is loosley defined as “an ​attack

perpetrated by individuals and/or groups inspired by or associated with primarily U.S.-based

movements that espouse extremist ideologies of a political, religious, social, racial, or

environmental nature” (Terrorism, fbi.gov). All throughout history, there have been many

instances of terrorism around the world. In the United States, there were acts of terrorism during

the exploration of the New World and through times of war (Civil and Revolutionary). Other

than that, large scale terrorism was mainly associated with wars and primarily stayed out of the

United States. In the 1990’s, a radical group called Al Qaeda surfaced from Israel and began

carrying out attacks on American soil targeted at American citizens. The attacks only escalated

from there, both in frequency and in damage. On September 11th, 2001, the deadliest terrorist

attack in U.S. history occurred, resulting in nearly 3,000 deaths. This shook all of America to the

core and was the start of the war on terrorism. While this attack motivated the United States to

attempt to stop further catastrophes, it motivated others to start them and more terrorist groups

began to band together. Along with groups and individuals motivated by jihadist ideology,

recently there has been a rise in “Lone Wolf Terrorists” in the United States. These indivuduals

have been white supremists, anti-semitic, anti-muslim, homophobic and more, carrying out

attacks such as shootings and bombings which qualify as acts of terrorism. As a country, the

United States has made progress in preventing terrorist attacks, however it is still a very large

concern for citizens and government officials alike.

Due to the recent threat of “Lone Wolf Terrorists” the focus of the United States should

be finding a way to stop these attackers; one way to do this is through monitoring social media.

According to CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen, ​“​the large majority of jihadist
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terrorists in the United States have been American citizens or legal residents” (Bergen, 2018).

Jihadist activity is not the only threat coming from within the borders of the United States, there

is also terrorist activity from other discriminatory groups like homophobes and racists.​ The

internet, especially social media, is the main pathway terrorist organizations use to reach

vulnerable individuals and is how other people that also commit similar acts of violence, such as

white supremisists, homophobes, etc., develop their beliefs and ideas. People have access to

unimaginable amounts of information through the internet, some of which can be dangerous in

the wrong hands.

ISIS in particular is very vocal on social media and uses it as a platform to spread their

propaganda. All it takes is one search to find thousands of sites with information supporting the

horrible ideologies that make people believe it is okay to hurt, and even kill, others for the sake

of their cause. One example of how social media can affect or influence possible terrorists is the

case of Sayfullo Saipov. Saipov is an Uzbeck immigrant that killed eight people on October 31st,

2017, after running a truck onto a sidewalk in Downtown Manhattan. TIME Magazine published

an article about the case and stated that Saipov was in possession of 90 ISIS propaganda videos

on his phone. According to the article, the New York Police Department stated that Saipov

“‘followed almost exactly to a ‘T’ the instructions that ISIS has put out in its social media

channels before, with instructions to their followers on how to carry out such an attack’”

(Patrikarikos, 2017). Deadly attacks like this one could potentially be prevented, in some cases,

by monitoring social media and internet activity.

Many people who are strongly opposed to the monitorization of social media see it as a

violation of privacy and freedom of speech, “ Regulations of social media companies might
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either indirectly restrict individual speech or directly limit a right to curate an internet platform.

The First Amendment offers strong protections against such restrictions” (Samples, 2019). The

citizens of the United States are very protective of their privacy, and rightfully so. Americans are

very lucky to have the right to privacy protected by law and in cases where the safety of the

overall population is not in danger, privacy lines should never be crossed. That being said,

monitoring internet activity and social media could very well help prevent terrorist attacks by

notifying law enforcement when people are showing signs of being dangerous, being affiliated

with people of interest, or planning to do harm to the public. In this case, the safety of the

American citizens as a whole should be more important than the government knowing what

selfie is being posted on Instagram. This could help point out people of interest by what they

post, search, and promote.

Terrorism is sadly a big threat to the United States and many other parts of the world. The

government continues to try to prevent as many attacks as they can and catch suspects as soon as

possible, but there always seems to be people who evade detection. Allowing the government to

monitor social media and internet activity could potentially help them catch these previously

undetected potential terrorists and save the lives of thousands.

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References:

Terrorism. (2016, May 03). Retrieved from ​https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/terrorism

Part IV. What is the Threat to the United States Today? (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.newamerica.org/in-depth/terrorism-in-america/what-threat-united-states-today/

Patrikarakos, D. (2017, November 02). Social Media Spreads Terrorism and Propaganda. Police

It. Retrieved from ​http://time.com/5008076/nyc-terror-attack-isis-facebook-russia/

Samples, J. (2019, April 09). Why the Government Should Not Regulate Content Moderation of

Social Media. Retrieved from

https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/why-government-should-not-regulate-conte

nt-moderation-social-media