Al-Araby al-Jadeed, London, December 7
For years, officials from various tech companies have told us that social media has no connection to radicalization. Facebook in particular spearheaded this campaign, reassuring policymakers—from Capitol Hill to the European Parliament—that they had nothing to worry about. The recent lone-wolf attack carried out in New York City put an end to these denials. Akayed Ullah, a Bangladeshi immigrant who set off a pipe bomb in one of Manhattan’s busiest public transit stations, was directly inspired by what he saw on Facebook. In his interrogation, Ullah admitted to having followed ISIS-related profiles on social media since moving to the United States. More specifically, he was inspired by videos on how to assemble homemade explosive devices and carrying out successful attacks against westerners. Facebook can therefore no longer deny its role in fostering terrorism. Even the everyday use of its platform for peaceful purposes has stripped individuals of their privacy and encouraged superficial social interactions between friends and family members. Today, it is almost impossible to block Facebook’s interference in our lives. Granted, it is not an inherently evil tool, yet it has perils, many of which are still unbeknownst to us. It is our responsibility to ensure that social media is used for peaceful purposes or, at the very least, monitored by our security and intelligence agencies. Otherwise, we will quickly find ourselves left with no control over the materials that are being proliferated around us. We are already heading that way. – Mashari al-Zayidi