Abstract
This chapter is a case study on Al-Shabaab’s digital media, from the jihadist group’s online recruitment strategies to its management of its online news channel. Of central importance, here, is the 2009 video that showed Al-Shabaab’s pledge of allegiance to Al-Qaeda, which became a pivotal moment for jihad in sub-Saharan Africa. This official commitment attracted more recruits and reinforced its aura and activities in that region. Another pivotal moment was the 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack in Kenya, which demonstrated how good the “Twitter terrorists” Al-Shabaab militants were. The last section details the group’s sophisticated online funding schemes, thereby allowing these jihadists to thrive.
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Matusitz, J., Wesley, D. (2024). Case Study: Al-Shabaab’s Digital Media. In: Jihad in Sub-Saharan Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53700-4_6
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