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Al Qaeda asked Twitter for PR advice, and here’s what happened

When Al Qaeda solicited “media development” ideas from Twitter, it was never going to turn out well.

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Kris Holt

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When Al Qaeda solicited “media development” ideas from Twitter, it was never going to turn out well.

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J.M. Berger, an investigative reporter who covers extremism and terrorism, urged followers to provide the terror organization with media advice. The Arabic hashtag Al Qaeda used, #???????_??????_??????_???????, roughly translates to “suggestions for the development of jihadi media.”

Hey everybody, Al Qaeda is using this hashtag to solicit ideas for media ops #???????_??????_??????_??????? — you should all send some.

— J.M. Berger (@intelwire) August 13, 2013

Twitter users, including Berger, inevitably hijacked the tag with a trove of facetious PR suggestions.

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J.J. Abrams show about mysterious island where AQ operatives crash then kill each other over arcane theology #???????_??????_??????_???????

— J.M. Berger (@intelwire) August 13, 2013

Auction off the cabinet Osama bin Laden filmed his videos in front of #???????_??????_??????_???????

— J.M. Berger (@intelwire) August 13, 2013

My suggestion for Al Qaeda’s woes: sell Osama’s porn collection on eBay. #???????_??????_??????_???????

— Chris Forewit (@forewit) August 13, 2013

Waziristan’s Top 10 Romantic Restaurants #???????_??????_??????_???????

— Challah Hu Akbar (@ChallahHuAkbar) August 13, 2013

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Top 10 list of reasons we suddenly like Morsi #???????_??????_??????_???????

— J.M. Berger (@intelwire) August 13, 2013

Goatse #???????_??????_??????_???????

— J.M. Berger (@intelwire) August 13, 2013

New jihadi training video: Out with the monkey bars, in with hot yoga #???????_??????_??????_???????

— J.M. Berger (@intelwire) August 13, 2013

Send Ibrahim al-Asiri on Top Gear to be the Star in the reasonably priced car bomb. #???????_??????_??????_???????

— Zedd Rebel (@ZeddRebel) August 14, 2013

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Knock-knock jokes are nice. Everybody can appreciate a good knock-knock joke. #???????_??????_???????_???????

— DWD (@fasteddie9318) August 14, 2013

Relay race. No baton. Stick of TNT. You don’t want to be penalized for taking too long. Or do you? #???????_??????_???????_???????

— Troy Fokker (@Corsair8X) August 14, 2013

Al Qaeda the movie: Dude, where’s my car bomb? #???????_??????_??????_???????

— Charlie (@timmyconspiracy) August 13, 2013

Say a special hello to the NSA, too. #???????_??????_??????_???????

— Jessica (@MoonUponAStick) August 14, 2013

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Make a documentary called Bacon and the reasons we’re angry at the world #???????_??????_???????_???????

— Eben Bosman (@EbenBosman) August 14, 2013

Tree hugging, finger painting, free dance, artisanal breadmaking, & watching butterflies #???????_??????_???????_???????

— Gert (@Gert) August 14, 2013

Flooding the tag with banality had a tangible effect on extremists, who openly use Twitter for propaganda and recruitment. “[O]n top of giving jihadis a sad, you are actually making it harder for them to get terrorism work done,” Berger argued. Jihadists were infuriated.

Work on repartee #???????_??????_??????_??????? RT @IrjaSlayer: @intelwire may Allah destroy you you filthy Kaafir kalb la3natAllah alak

— J.M. Berger (@intelwire) August 13, 2013

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H/T BuzzFeed | Photo via XXX

 
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