explosive devices or even malware via social media.137 Social media can also be a vehicle to facilitate both kinetic and digitally-derived forms of violence, for example social cyber attacks, in which cyber militias have engaged in online defamation campaigns and have weaponized rumors and false information to incite panic and/or violence. Impacts and implications While ISIS is not the first militant group to use social media for information activities and gaining support, their use of social media is distinct in three ways: 1) The focus on propaganda elevates the status, importance and role of online volunteers, influencers, film makers, graphic designers and other technical specialists within the greater ISIS network.138 Digital activists, dedicated freelancers, online influencers, keyboard warriors, and internet recruiters play a central role within the organization, lowering the bar for participation, blurring the distinction between “support” and “membership,” and challenging conventional notions of affiliation and hierarchy. A GW report, ISIS in America139 makes note of 4 key roles:  Nodes: Leading voices within an online community that function primarily as content creators for ISIS propaganda and pool new followers by bridging social networks within and between platforms.  Amplifiers: Popular platform users (anonymous or known) that disseminate content by retweeting, liking, favoriting and sharing ISIS-related materials created by other users.  Shout outs: Connectors and curators that introduce potential recruits to the ISIS community, facilitate introductions to authentic accounts, and promote newly created accounts of previously suspended users, thereby playing a pivotal role in the resilience of ISIS’s online communities in response to account suspensions and takedowns.  Spotters: Operatives that scan the social media landscape to identify potential candidates for radicalization and engage them via more private channels. 2) ISIS has set the standard for strategic communications innovation among violent extremist networks. ISIS is the first extremist group to have developed bespoke software for disseminating and amplifying its propaganda. Its mobile application, “Dawn of Glad Tidings” allowed for automated posting and re-tweeting of pre-drafted content via remote control of the users’ Twitter account. ISIS media operatives could exploit the accounts of anyone downloading the app to amplify their media content, allowing media campaigns to proliferate rapidly, spaced out to avoid Twitter’s spamdetection algorithms, and increasing anonymity for those individuals actually running the accounts.140 3) ISIS is adaptive and persistent, despite coordinated efforts among technology companies, governments and civil society to counter them. When suspected accounts are de-platformed, blocked users come back online using alternative handles, which are authenticated among the remaining network through geo-location and list-based means.141 Operatives also use signaling techniques such to authenticate accounts, as well as URL obfuscation, encrypted messaging apps, username manipulation and cross-platform migration to undermine detection efforts and ensure digital survival.142 137 Theohary and Rollins, 4, 7. 138 Winter, 12; Koerner, 2016. 139 Lorenzo Vidino and Seamus Hughes, “ISIS in America: From ReTweets to Raqqa” (Program on Extremism GWU: December 2015) pg. 23-26. 140 Saltman and Winter, 41; Gerstel, 4; Wilson, 4. 141 Svetoka, 34-35. 142 See Audrey Alexander, “How to Fight ISIS Online” Foreign Affairs (April, 2017) MERCY CORPS The Weaponization of Social Media: How social media can spark violence and what can be done about it 52