Internet & Social Media Aid Terrorists To Spread Conspiracy Theories: EAM S Jaishankar

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on October 29, during United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) meeting being held in New Delhi under India’s chairmanship, noted that the internet and social media platforms are being used as weapons by the terrorists for radicalisation and spreading propaganda to destabilise societies.

Recently, terrorist groups, ideological allies, particularly liberal societies, and “lone wolf” attackers have substantially raised their potential using the internet, EAM Jaishankar opined.

Jaishankar further pointed out that terrorists regularly use “technology, money, and the ethos of open societies to attack freedom, tolerance, and progress.”

“The internet and social media platforms have evolved into potent tools in the toolkit of militant groups,” he said.

Delivered the keynote address at the plenary session of UNSC special meeting of counter-terrorism committee on ‘Countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes’ in New Delhi today. pic.twitter.com/1rIVnAvSwe

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) October 29, 2022

He also pressed on the risk that the unregulated use of unmanned aerial systems poses. “Because these unmanned aerial platforms are a relatively low-cost option with increasing ease of access, misuse of these unmanned aerial platforms for malicious purposes such as weapon and explosives delivery and targeted attacks has become an immediate threat,” he stated.

Jaishankar further took the opportunity to announce that India will make a voluntary contribution of $500,000 to the UN Trust Fund for counter-terrorism this year to assist the member countries.

Expressing concerns over the increasing threat that terrorism poses to humanity, Jaishankar said, “The UN Security Council has evolved an important architecture, built largely around the counter-terrorism sanctions regime, to combat this menace over the last two decades.” And it has been very effective in putting those countries on notice who have turned terrorism into a state-sponsored enterprise.”

Reports of 1267 Sanctions Committee Monitoring suggest that the threat is only growing and expanding, particularly in Asia and Africa.