Islamic State, or more commonly referred to as "ISIS," is a jihadist militant group who believes strongly in radical Islam. The extremist group's goal is to establish an Islamic caliphate. Over the past few years, our world has been hearing of devastations from ISIS too often now. It is so hard to understand how and why people do these terrible deeds. According to CNN, “Using social media as well as encrypted online communications beyond the reach of law enforcement surveillance, the terror organization [ISIS] is increasingly reaching new sympathizers and encouraging attacks.” After doing so, their recruits venture to places like Syria, where they learn all the necessary skills needed, such as using a gun, fighting, etc. In fact, counterterrorism officials believe, in just 2015, nearly 3,400 westerners made the decision to join ISIS. ISIS's recruits are either kept in the Middle Eastern countries or are sent to other nations to perform acts of terror.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for many attacks in recent months, including the killing of over 215 people in Baghdad. We have seen the deaths of 20 individuals, including 2 young students from Georgia’s own Emory University, in Dhaka. We have also seen the attack on the Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul.

However, on June 12, 2016, we were introduced to a whole new aspect to this terrorist group's reach and influence. Omar Mateen, an American citizen born in Queens, murdered 49 individuals in the Pulse night club because of his differing views on homosexuals. This massacre has now been named the deadliest mass shooting in American history by an individual. While this event was horrifying and heart breaking for the victims, there was another aspect to all of this that scared me even more. We learned that Omar Mateen did not have any previous contact with ISIS, but in a call with the police at the time of the attack, Omar Mateen pledged his allegiance to ISIS. The question is now raised, “How was this man influenced to perform these terrible acts by ISIS if he had no previous interaction with the group?”

People like Omar Mateen are “ISIS Influenced Attackers.” These individuals do not communicate directly with ISIS. However, they are influenced by the content posted on ISIS social media that contains images and videos of ISIS attacks preachings of anti-Western beliefs and teachings from Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi (leader of ISIS). ISIS is using social media to not only recruit members to join ISIS, but also to motivate violent acts even without joining the group. One could make the argument that attacks by these individuals are started at the social media level.

I have always wondered “How influential can these videos be? How can a video or a teaching change a life and make people give in to horrific acts? How is ISIS so successful?” In reality, the people who follow these videos or these posts are either on the verge of becoming radical Islamists or already are. In fact, Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people in Orlando two weeks ago, was said to have feelings of radical Islam years before he allegedly started following the teachings of ISIS. Therefore, by watching these videos, the individuals' hatred is just intensified, which means that it becomes far more likely for them to act upon it.

It is clear that, as a country, action must be taken to stop people from being influenced by ISIS and committing these crimes. Obviously, a strong enough action has not been taken yet. That isn’t to say nothing has been done to stop ISIS’s grasp on social media. For the social platforms used by the terrorist group, which are mainly Twitter and Facebook, work extremely hard to take down or ban any profile page or group connected with terrorism. In fact, Facebook spokesman Andrew Souvall stated, “There is no place for terrorists on Facebook”.

However, social media by its nature raises multiple issues. First, social media’s global nature makes it difficult to track all accounts just by the sheer number of accounts online. Second, social media companies rely highly on individuals to locate intolerable content. Third, it is also extremely easy for individuals to open new accounts once a previous account is closed. Through this new account, they continue to do the same. Finally, it is difficult to isolate a real terrorist account when there are many other radical individuals who simply post radical thoughts and comments.

Now, today, I am writing this article for two reasons. My first reason is that just recently, as a country, we celebrated our 240^thyear of independence. We celebrated our rights as a society and as citizens. On social media, the policy to ban anything that may instigate violence leads to the question of our rights. According to our Constitution, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or the press." This, as we all know, means that all of us, as citizens, have the freedom of both speech and press. Therefore, on social media, though you may think a post or an article is offensive, to someone else that is their freedom of speech. This makes the line of distinction between radical beliefs and freedom of speech very vague. My second reason is that, during the 4^thof July weekend, I visited the site of the appalling attack in Orlando. Just visiting the scene made my heart drop. As we walked by, my family and I experienced a silence like no other. All I could hear were the prayers I had in my head for the families, who lost their loved ones. It hit me that so many people lost their brothers, sisters, cousins and even their children. It became so clear to me the impact an act of terror can have.

It is not accurate for us to state that the death of thousands of people is because of social media. However, in my view, content posted on social media by ISIS was the catalyst for an action committed by an individual whose beliefs were radicalized and intensified by social media content. A strong action must be taken by law enforcement to stop the amount of people being radicalized online. Yet this will not be enough; you and I, as citizens, must be on the look-out for suspicious content online and do our part to report these acts. For the truth is that ISIS is not the only group that people are influenced by online. In fact, the Dallas shooting that recently occurred is also believed to be instigated by social media. As the shooter followed horrific pages on Facebook. These pages that he followed endorsed the attacks of white people.

Social media should be used to educate people or to keep in contact with family or friends across the world. It should not be a method used to spread hateful ideologies. We, as citizens, must work hard to bring upon a change to end this madness.