THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE SPREAD OF EXTREME TERRORISM IN KOSOVO THE LEGAL AND CRIMINAL VIEW OF THESE CRIMES

Abstract

Terrorism is not a new concept, but it gained prominence when many extreme occurrences occurred, prompting a more in-depth investigation of the subject. Following the Pan Am flight bombing, for example, terrorism horrified the United States government and the entire world’s population. This research aims to investigate, using secondary data, how social media was used in Kosovo to spread propaganda for radical terrorism and to analyse the provisions of the Kosovo Criminal Code that were broken by this propaganda. The current study relies on desk research with secondary data analysis, namely the content analysis of reports, articles, and news, and interpretive analysis of the Criminal Code of Kosovo. According to the study, propaganda for the spread of extremism and radicalism was used in Kosovo by showing videos on Facebook and YouTube channels, typically with religious messages about the duty to God for helping brothers and sisters in Syria and, to a lesser extent, by showing videos of Kosovo terrorists directly committing terrorist acts in Syria. In addition, the analysis discovers that propaganda led to violations of paragraphs a, b, and c of Article 139 of the Kosovo Criminal Code.

Keywords

• jihad
• kosovo
• propaganda
• social media
• violent extremism