Islamic State has been very successful in using social media to lure vulnerable young people into coming to join the fight. Between the official propaganda platforms and a dedicated online supporter base, the organisation has reached out to to potential radicals around the world.
Now they've attracted a response from a different demographic: pornbots.
Hundreds of 'sexy, lonely young ladies' have been rushing to follow Twitter accounts who distribute pro-IS material, with one account being slammed (sorry) with nearly 5,000 explicit images.
We can presume that Islamic State's predominantly young, male, and deeply conservative members were horrified and shamed by this display of wanton female sexuality, averted their eyes and turned to prayer.
As the bots only follow rather than tweeting to accounts, they can't be reported as spam. Some supporter accounts have attempted to block the offending bots, but others have switched their profiles to private, meaning that the attack has actually been effective in impairing Islamic State's recruitment efforts.
While pornography will (probably) not rid the world of violent extremism, it's heartening to know that nubile barely-legal underwear models are fighting on our side.
(And to whoever keeps setting pornbots on The Feed, we don't support Islamic State, we promise. We clicked for important work purposes).
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