Sawab Centre calls for countering Daesh's extremist ideology on social media

The Sawab Centre in Abu Dhabi, which aims to counter online messages, propaganda and recruitment by the terrorist organisation Daesh, has launched the second part of its campaign #exposing - Daesh – lies. It is designed to raise awareness among young people about the misleading tactics Daesh employs to disguise its brutal face.

The first part of the campaign features the views of defectors after they have become aware of the deceptions practiced by Daesh. The second part reveals a new set of lies being propagated by Daesh in an attempt to improve its image, so that it can seek to recruit more followers from among the vulnerable.

Sawab's core mandate focuses on explaining the image of Daesh without any distortion and promoting the reach of those voices that stand for values and the principles held by the majority out of the conviction that these are the genuine values of our community and that extremist ideologies are alien to our community. The Centre is confident that young people are sufficiently conscious and informed to be able to take sound and right decisions when they are provided with the facts and not left alone on the social media to deal with the views of misguided elements.

Sawab has promoted anti-Daesh voices on the internet by providing a channel whereby the silent majority may reach out to the world. Today, Sawab provides an appropriate platform and appeals to all parts of the community so as to educate our sons and daughters about the danger of this terrorist menace.

Social media users can immunise their loved ones and their nation by tweets to the Centre or by contributing materials that promote the anti-Daesh drive by using the abovementioned hashtag (#exposing-Daesh-lies). Tweets that have mentioned that second part of the campaign have already reached tens of millions of people and are expected to reach over one billion in all.

It is heartening that "tweeps" (those using Twitter) have begun to take an active role by contributing materials to the campaign's content. They have enthusiastically responded to those who promote lies or who serve as propagandists for Daesh ideology. Some Twitter followers have referred to material produced by Sawab or have mentioned it in their online dialogue. Others have recommended other sources of information and news as an implicit acknowledgment of Sawab's assigned role to challenge and counter extremist ideologies.

Sawab, a joint initiative by the Governments of the United Arab Emirates and the United States in support of the Global Coalition against DAESH, works with members of the Global Coalition around the world, as well as many other engaged individuals and organizations in order to counter Daesh propaganda and reveal its true criminal nature and intent.

Sawab will use online communication and social media tools to put things in the right perspective and to amplify those many moderate voices that too often get drowned out by the noise of the extremists.

The word Sawab in Arabic signifies "doing the right thing" or being on the "right path". Sawab seeks to do just that by giving a voice to the millions of Muslims and others around the world that stand united against the terrorism and falsehood propagated by Daesh. Sawab will use online communication and social media tools to put things in the right perspective and to amplify those many moderate voices that too often get drowned out by the noise of the extremists.