Islamic State (IS) militant group supporters last Wednesday launched a social media network that imitates Facebook and Twitter, in an apparent bid to garner more support for the jihadi organisation.
"The first social media network for Islamic State supporters," reads an opening message on the website's homepage, adding that the site is still in its initial stages, and calling for supporters to share its address online.
The new network has not yet attracted many users, with most posts dating from the last four days.
Website regulations
The website's regulations include four points.
First, users should not send any personal information to each other or to the website's administrators.
Second, the network's administration asks users not to post personal photos.
Third, it calls on IS supporters to be patient with any other users who don't yet support IS.
Fourth, it requests that any verbal abuse be reported.
Hosting server
The head of IT services company KIT Consulting, Khaled Kamal, told Ahram Online that a geolocation search on the website's domain name had led back to a web server in the US registered to an administrator named Abu Musab.
"The domain name was sold by GoDaddy co. on 3 March, 2015 and is licensed for one year," Kamal said via email.
The website's administrator Abu Musab listed the Iraqi city of Mosul as his city and Egypt as his country.
Many of the network's users have started to use trending hashtags such as #Islamic_State , #ISIS, Khelafa_Army and #first_post.
The website's administration has mentioned that it is an independent site not affiliated with IS, but boasts full and absolute loyalty to the militant group and to anyone across the world who follows their ideology.
Users
Users with names such as Abu Hamza Al-Masry, Abu Azzam, Abu Abdullah al-Husseiny, The Sunni Army (Algaish al-Sunni) have started to post pro-IS statuses and hashtags on the website.
Users can follow others, like on Twitter.
The jihadi social network is to run in seven languages: German, English, Spanish, Indonesian, Javanese, Portuguese and Turkish.
The website server was slow and many accounts on it were down.
Ahram Online has chosen to withhold the network's name to avoid helping it recruit new supporters for IS.
IS controls expansive territory in Syria and Iraq, including Mosul, and militant Islamist groups in Egypt, Libya and Nigeria have pledged allegiance to it.
The group has come under media limelight, especially after publishing brutal – Hollywood-style -- video footage of it killing its opponents, including beheading 20 Egyptian Coptic workers in Libya and burning a Jordanian fighter pilot alive.
The group has reportedly attracted hundreds of foreign recruits.
