ISIS created its own fabricated news broadcasts, disseminating eight videos in both English and Arabic via two separate YouTube channels, as reported by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. One channel was designed to appear affiliated with CNN, while the other featured the Al Jazeera logo.
ISIS Creates Fake CNN and Al Jazeera Broadcasts
A recent report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue reveals that the IS has launched a deceptive media campaign imitating mainstream news outlets CNN and Al Jazeera.
The campaign, coordinated by War and Media, a pro-IS media outlet known for propagating the group’s agenda, began in early March. It involved two YouTube channels: one masquerading as CNN, distributing English-language videos, and another using the Al Jazeera logo for Arabic-language content.
These videos prominently displayed the authentic logos of the news outlets, with the CNN-themed videos even featuring a real-time news ticker that adjusted to match the video’s narrative. The campaign also used a network of social media accounts posing as legitimate news affiliations, potentially targeting new audiences with extremist propaganda.
The Campaign Spread Eight Videos Discuss ISIS’s Expansion
The campaign produced a total of eight original videos, four in English and four in Arabic, covering topics such as ISIS’s activities in Africa and the conflict in Syria. One video specifically addressed the deadly attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall in March, where the IS claimed accountability and aimed to counter a Kremlin-backed narrative blaming Ukraine rather than the group.
Moustafa Ayad, executive director for Africa, the Middle East, and Asia at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, described the campaign as a tactic to debunk disinformation with more disinformation, effectively creating a "fake news to debunk fake news" scenario.
Ayad suggested that the campaign also served as a trial to gauge its effectiveness in evading censorship on mainstream Western platforms. “It's the first time we've really seen a concerted effort by an Islamic State outlet to create this fake ecosystem of news that isn't branded as something that's affiliated with the Islamic State,” Ayad said. “It was very much a test of the system and now they know where there are weaknesses in their strategy.”
YouTube Removes ISIS Fake News Videos After 6 Weeks
The videos remained on YouTube for about a month and a half before being removed by the platform. However, during that period, IS supporters downloaded and re-uploaded the videos on their own accounts. Some of these unauthorized uploads are still circulating online today because they have not been added to the hash-sharing database used by platforms to coordinate the removal of their content.
Moustafa Ayad described the strategy as creating a complete fake ecosystem of social media channels that mimic legitimate news outlets. Each video on YouTube garnered thousands of views. While none went viral, Ayad noted that the engagement was sufficient for the group to gain traction in new circles beyond their usual reach. Real people commented under the videos, indicating some level of interaction and impact.
Ayad pointed out the distinction: this new campaign involved "creating channels as those media outlets and then creating an entire newscast around a specific issue, using footage from a range of different sources—not just the Islamic State, but footage that you could find online or other news channel footage. We really saw it take off right after the Moscow attacks.”
ISIS Circumvents Content Moderation
The campaign underscores the IS's increasing adeptness at evading content moderation efforts. This revelation follows closely on the heels of a Washington Post report revealing the group's use of an AI-generated news anchor in weekly broadcasts aimed at English-speaking audiences.
“I have no doubt in my mind we will see more of this in the future,” Ayad added. “AI allows them to create more realistic graphics for news that mimic a lot of the new channels. We're gonna see more of that and it's going to get more and more difficult to identify this content.”
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