INTERPOL Completes First Course for Middle East Law Enforcement on Countering Social Media Use by Terrorists
The Aug. 7–11 training course brought together intelligence officers and investigators from Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia to enhance identification and detection of potential terrorism subjects.
INTERPOL recently announced it conducted its first specialized training course on techniques to counter the use of social media for terrorist purposes for law enforcement personnel in the Middle East and North Africa, aiming to help member countries prevent and counter the exploitation of cyberspace for terrorist activity.
Stating that abuse of the Internet and social media channels by terrorist organizations a growing concern for police, the Aug. 7 – 11 training course brought together intelligence officers and investigators from Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia to enhance identification and detection of potential terrorism subjects based on their use of digital platforms; address challenges related to the admissibility of digital evidence in criminal cases; and develop a dialogue between the private sector and law enforcement in counter-terrorism investigations.
The course was funded by the government of Canada and is part of a larger capacity-building program that supports law enforcement agencies in the Middle East and North Africa; expertise was provided by officials from INTERPOL and partners that included the Spanish National Police, Europol, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, and Facebook.