(This post is from our new blog: Unofficial Sources.)
Lawmakers despairing over the Islamic State’s success in recruiting would-be terrorists on social media proposed on Thursday that the U.S. government create more viral memes, possibly with Hollywood’s help.
“There’s an obvious piece of legislation that we need to start working on,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., said during a Homeland Security Committee hearing on “Jihad 2.0“.
“Let’s face it: We invented the Internet. We invented the social network sites. We’ve got Hollywood. We’ve got the capabilities … to blow these guys out of the water from the standpoint of communications.”
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., backed his colleague’s appeal. “Look at their fancy memes compared to what we’re not doing,” Booker said, displaying examples of jihadist online postings.
Booker is a prolific user of Twitter and a former viral sensation in his own right, as mayor of Newark. He said he knows “something about memes,” and added that “there are easy tactics how to get more voice, virality to messaging that we’re not using as a government.”
Instead, he lamented, the U.S. is spending “millions and millions of dollars on old school forms of media,” like Voice of America.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said that the private sector could play a greater role working with the government in any counter-recruitment initiative.
Here’s a clip from the hearing:
Also at the hearing, Peter Bergen, a senior New America Foundation national security expert, testified in favor of more lenient treatment for would-be fighters who reverse course before fully committing themselves.
He noted that Muslim families who see a son or daughter radicalizing online are deterred from reporting the matter to the FBI out of fear that he or she will be thrown in jail for more than a decade.
“If somebody is not actually indicted for a potential act of terrorism, but merely for trying to go to Syria, we should be thinking about off-ramps that aren’t 15 years in prisons,” Bergen said.
Sam Sacks is a writer and reporter living in Washington, D.C. He is the co-founder of the watchdog news site The District Sentinel.
Photo: Screengrab of Cory Booker at Senate hearing
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
Contact the author:
Latest Stories
CIA Ran MK-ULTRA Experiments on Prisoners of War in U.S. Custody, Declassified Docs Confirm
For the first time, documents confirm the CIA carried out tests on North Korean POWs and planned for much more invasive experimentation.
Kash Patel Got Arrested for Public Urination After a Night of Drinking
The FBI director was arrested twice in his youth for alcohol-related incidents that he said were “not representative of my usual conduct.”
Chilling Dissent
“We Knew They Were Paying Informants”: SPLC Donors Reject Trump DOJ Fraud Claims
Twenty donors to the Southern Poverty Law Center said the alleged “fraud” being prosecuted in their name was exactly how they hoped the group would spend their money.