CISH

Social media have become important elements in political and social discourse. The Lebanese society is divided into sectarian parties, including those who support Syria and Iran, including those who support Saudi Arabia. Social networking sites have become a forum for exchanging threats and insults between Sunnis and Shiites, which causes disintegration in Lebanese society threatening the civil peace. Moreover ISIS and Nosra have used social media to attract Sunni Muslims from all Lebanese regions to fight the Syria regime as well as to recruit their agents in Lebanon to blow them up in crowded residential area.

As a follow-up to the workshop already held in February 2018 (see previous article) the Centre International des Sciences de l'Homme - CISH in cooperation with Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung organized another dialogue event titled 'The Impact of Extremism in Social Media on Lebanese Society' from July 20 - 21, 2018 in Byblos in order to discuss about countering violent extremism online and in their communities and to suggest potential responses.

The event included 4 sessions with the contribution of 12 researchers and academics who developed the following themes:

- The impact of Social Media on the globalization of extremism and violence

- The Spread of ISIS into Lebanon: A Strategic Response to counter the threat

- Counter terrorism and violent extremism in Lebanese Law

- The risks of cyber bulling and its effects on the community

CISH

The event allowed the participants to learn about the best practices in monitoring and evaluation the strategic use of social media platforms by groups like ISIS and Nosra to attract young people to join their ranks and that countering violent extremism online can’t succeed only with a top-down approach. Terrorism cannot succeed in entering the community if it is not an incubator and that the process of combating terrorism is not the work of the government alone, but requires a partnership of government and the community. In addition another danger through social media was discussed that threaten the people using internet especially children and youth called cyber bulling. 

The two days of the event were rich with ideas and debates and ended with recommendations submitted to the Ministry of Media and Education and published in the media to raise awareness among Lebanese and alerting the youth about the danger of Social Media.