Social Media at War. The Case of Kurdish Fighters and Their Impact on the Perception of the On-Going Anti-ISIS Conflict in Western Countries

In this paper, I aim to analyse the situation of fighters joining Kurdish anti-ISIS forces (hereby called foreign as they come from Europe) through their social media narrative. By following the social media presence and actions of three Europeans, I explore the current jurisprudence in connection with the Kurdish struggle. Proceeding from an analysis of the three possible cases stemming from real case studies, I carry out a theoretical exercise of possible prosecution outcomes if national authorities were to bring their “careers” to the attention of national courts. Since the outburst of the antiISIS conflict in the majority-Kurdish areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014, foreign pro-Kurdish fighters’ self-representation on their personal social media accounts has had an astonishing impact on the portrayal and perception of the conflict in Western countries. Therefore, the use of social media by the fighters proves to be a source of not only information, but also polarisation – and a primary source for future conflict studies. The use of technology has never been so pervasive as in our times; social media are therefore not only part of our daily lives, but actively contributing to our perception of the world – including conflicts located thousands of kilometres away.