ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Gunnar Weimann, Beatrice Berton, and Antonios Samouris account for the emergence and development of the IS propaganda machinery. Starting off as a centralised media apparatus, largely relying on Twitter, the IS propaganda machinery has evolved into a decentralised ecosystem, using a multi-platform approach. This due to strategic setbacks on the ground, limiting the group’s capacity to maintain a centralised and well-performing media apparatus, as well as disruption efforts carried out by state authorities and social media companies. Furthermore, while there has been a steady decline in online content produced and disseminated by official IS media outlets, the production of supporter-generated content (SGC) and the recycling of old IS material have filled that void. In addition, in terms of sustaining IS online activities and continuing to pass on the group’s messages and narratives, IS supporter networks are becoming increasingly important – at times making it difficult to distinguish between the formal organisation and its broad encompassing network of online supporters.
