Taliban fighters posed for the camera, their shawls and bandannas covering their identities but not their jubilation, as they captured the main roundabout in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz early this month in what could have been called “operation hoist the flag and pull out a smartphone.” [...] In a country where social media use is becoming more and more vital, the Taliban are making sure to flood the information channels with their message.

The tour, marked as the teaser of the " China-Russia Internet Media Forum" that will be heldin Tianhe district on Saturday, included visits to some of the leading internet and innovativecompanies in the district. More than twenty Russian press savvies and media entrepreneurswith their Chinese counterparts attended the tour.

A new report by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, “Communication Breakdown: Unraveling the Islamic State’s Media Efforts,” describes in detail the impact of military action on ISIS’ capacity to wage ideological warfare. Promising the coming of the caliphate and portraying the Islamic State as utopian reality about to happen has become all but impossible.

Human Rights First and French NGO Coexister convened the #BetterTogether Inaugural Summit in Paris last month to address the problem of hate speech on the Internet and in social networks. The two-day meeting brought together civil society actors, technology companies, and French and American government representatives for sessions dedicated to the creation of coalitions and advocacy campaigns...

Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel discussed the Islamic State’s influential social media presence and how the U.S. can counter it on campus Thursday. The 90-minute discussion [...] focused on the work of the Global Engagement Center (GEC), a State Department anti-extremism initiative, which Stengel oversees.