Twice at his news conference today in Antalya, Turkey, President Obama cited social media as a means of recruiting terrorists, like those who targeted Paris Friday night. CBS’s Margaret Brennan asked whether the U.S. has underestimated the ability of ISIS. “No, we haven’t, the president said, before talking about how their evil spreads through social media.
“These are killers with fantasies of glory, who are very savvy when it comes to social media, and are able to infiltrate the minds of not just Iraqis or Syrians, but disaffected individuals around the world,” the president said.
About 20 minutes later, responding to a reporter who hadn’t been called on, but asked a question anyway, the president said, “I do think that Muslims around the world, religious leaders, political leaders, ordinary people, have to ask very serious questions about how did these extremist ideologies take root. It is real. And it is dangerous. And it is built up over time and with social media, it is now accelerating.”