Wednesday, November 04, 2015

FBI Delays Website Designed To Counter ISIS Recruiting After Complaints That It Stigmatizes Muslim Students

Think Progress reports that on Monday, the FBI at least temporarily delayed the launch of its "Don't Be A Puppet" website which was designed to undercut recruitment efforts of extremist groups such as ISIS.  As reported by the New York Times, the website "leads the viewer through a series of games and tips intended to teach how to identify someone who may be falling prey to radical extremists." However community organizations expressed concern that school teachers do not have the expertise to identify those being radicalized and that the website will stigmatize Arab and Muslim students.  The director of the Sikh Coalition complained that schoolchildren face a much greater threat from gun violence that from Muslim extremism.