This piece analyzes the development of the al-Shabab terrorist group’s media strategy from its inception to the present. Over the years, it evolved from the dissemination of cassette sermons and local radio broadcasts to digital propaganda on global social media platforms. It also illustrates how al-Shabab has consistently attempted – through its messaging – to legitimize its insurgency, recruit fighters, and undermine public trust in the Somali government and foreign actors.
Al-Shabab spread its Salafi-jihadi discourses through religious sermons, local gatherings, memory cards, and FM radio between 2006 and 2014. The proliferation of the internet and smartphone usage in Somalia after 2014 was a turning point. It enabled the group to further expand its online presence through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Telegram. These platforms facilitated the group to transmit anti-government and anti-foreign discourses, mobilize violence, and recruit transnationally using various languages and effectively resonate themes.
The paper also sketches the evolution of al-Shabab’s 2025 usage of decentralized networks, pseudo-civilian profiles, and female accounts to avoid detection. Public opinion counts: al-Shabab propaganda is increasingly resonating with the masses, particularly where government reactions have been sluggish or lukewarm. Emotional manipulation, misinformation, and unfounded legitimacy have rendered official accounts questionable or led Somalis to consider al-Shabab to be somewhere in between.
The paper posits that the emergence of up-to-date digital surveillance, proactive communication, social media literacy, and international cooperation, along with a communications strategy that counters the extremist narrative and restores public trust, are key elements of Somalia’s advanced counterterrorism strategy, which has seen al-Shabab’s growing media sabotage and mass mobilization against radicalism.
The paper highlights the group’s capacity to adapt quickly to new technology, predicting that al-Shabab might use AI-driven tools to enhance its disinformation campaign. They might increase the exploitation of the grievances of women and young people to reach their goals.
