Overview

Twitter personality “EPIC” is an ISIS propagandist who uses Twitter to laud ISIS’s exploits, disseminate the terror group’s videos,EPIC, Twitter post, July 6, 2015, 11:20 a.m., https://twitter.com/affairs_irhabi/status/618122249745354752. and incite to violence.EPIC, Twitter post, July 11, 2016, 2:33 a.m., https://twitter.com/EPIC785/status/752435642588471296. His tweets have referenced deceased al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) cleric Anwar al-Awlaki,EPIC, Twitter post, August 19, 2015, 11:59 p.m. as well as radical British preacher Anjem Choudary.EPIC, Twitter post, August 29, 2015, 8:37 p.m.

In July 2016, the killing of Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani by Indian security forces prompted protests throughout the region.“Kashmir clashes over militant Burhan Wani leave 30 dead,” BBC News, July 11, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36761527. In response, EPIC tweeted, “Kashmiris should kill the cow worshipers [Hindus]. No need to protest.”EPIC, Twitter post, July 11, 2016, 2:20 a.m., https://twitter.com/EPIC785/status/752432319198179329. He then wrote, “Allah ordered you to fight, not to have peaceful protests.”EPIC, Twitter post, July 11, 2016, 2:33 a.m., https://twitter.com/EPIC785/status/752435642588471296.

EPIC’s Twitter feed is a source of news from ISIS’s area of operations, ranging from Iraq and Syria to Somalia and Libya.EPIC, Twitter, accessed March 22, 2016, https://twitter.com/EPlC24/status/712224203714342913. Following the November 13, 2015, ISIS attacks in Paris that left 130 dead and hundreds wounded,“Paris attacks: What happened on the night,” BBC News, December 9, 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34818994. EPIC tweeted, “The same song will repeat. IS [ISIS] will bring slaughter on kuffar [nonbelievers].”

Two days later, he tweeted in hope of ISIS-held territory in France.

EPIC has also tweeted in support of AQAP’s Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen targeted and killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011. Al-Awlaki’s lectures and propaganda have continued to inspire domestic terror attacks.Peter Bergen, “The American who inspires terror from Paris to the U.S.,” CNN, January 12, 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/11/opinion/bergen-american-terrorism-leader-paris-attack/. In August 2015, EPIC tweeted, “Happiness is coming to home [sic] and finding your wife listening to Imam Anwar Al Awlaki.”

In addition to threatening French territory, EPIC has called for ISIS to conquer the Andalusia region of Spain. “Andalusia will soon be ours,” EPIC tweeted in July 2015, referring to reports of ISIS plots to attack British tourists in Spain.EPIC, Twitter post, July 9, 2015, 5:19 a.m., https://twitter.com/EPlCz/status/619118741163343872. During a Twitter interaction with CEP that same month, EPIC expressed surprise that Twitter had not yet deactivated his latest account.CEP, Twitter post, July 9, 2015.

Also in July 2015, during the tenth anniversary of the Srebrencia massacre in Bosnia, EPIC tweeted “Revenge will come when IS [Islamic State] reaches Bosnia.”EPIC, Twitter post, July 10, 2015, 1:24 a.m., https://twitter.com/EPlCz/status/619421992513437696.

Following the January 7, 2015, attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris, EPIC tweeted that he was “so happy.”CEP, “ISIS Supporters & Other Extremists Respond to Paris Terror Attack,” Storify, January 2015, https://storify.com/CEP/isis-supporters-respond-to-paris-terror-attack. One subsequent tweet read: “Kill them all. Don’t leave a single soul.”CEP, “ISIS Supporters & Other Extremists Respond to Paris Terror Attack,” Storify, January 2015, https://storify.com/CEP/isis-supporters-respond-to-paris-terror-attack. “Please pray for more casualties of those who insult the prophet,” read another tweet.CEP, “ISIS Supporters & Other Extremists Respond to Paris Terror Attack,” Storify, January 2015, https://storify.com/CEP/isis-supporters-respond-to-paris-terror-attack.

Twitter continues to suspend EPIC’s accounts, but he has managed to resurface under a new username after each suspension.