Official and volunteer translators of Islamic State (IS) propaganda have made attempts to rebound in 2026, after laying the groundwork in the second half of 2025. Their current drive aims to undo the effects from 18 months of successful counter-terrorist operations that significantly hindered the terrorist organization’s multi-language propaganda output. While groups close to the organizational core of Islamic State have led these efforts, other less recognized and individualistic endeavors have also contributed.
In June 2024, an international law enforcement operation shut down the I’lam Foundation, one of the largest multilingual translators and distributors of pro-IS publications accessible on the surface and dark webs. Before the servers were seized, the I’lam Foundation hosted propaganda in more than thirty languages on its website, including the main languages of Central and South Asia, Africa, foreign fighters (e.g., Albanian, Uyghur, Indonesian), and external operations countries (i.e., English, Spanish, German). I’lam’s closure placed more importance on Fursan al-Tarjuma, a collective of roughly a dozen pro-IS translation foundations.
Fursan al-Tarjuma launched in March 2023 with 14 media foundations translating 18 languages. Most foundations focused on one language, relevant to a province or major foreign fighter group, but IS-Khorasan Province’s (ISKP) Al Azaim Media Foundation translated multiple Central and South Asian languages. Fursan al-Tarjuma is central to the current attempted resurgence.
In the months after I’lam Foundation was shuttered, additional arrests around the world stopped the production and dissemination of propaganda by both “munasir” (meaning: volunteer) and high-profile individuals.
One of the largest contingents of arrested volunteer translators was tied to IS’s Andalus region, referring to the historical Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula. Most of those arrested or otherwise shut down, however, had resided in Latin America. “Abu Bakar al-Uruguayi,” a 14-year-old supporter, established and promoted multiple Spanish-language and Latin American groups online. He was tied to Thiago José Silva Barboza de Paula, a Brazilian recruiter behind the “Comando860” network active on multiple social media platforms. Finally, a Mexican youth known online as both “YihadAmerica” and “Abu Ibrahim” was twice forced to shutter Spanish-language social media channels in early 2025.
Other media munasirs inhibited by investigations and authorities were based in Europe or North America, translating into Dutch, French, German, or a variety of other languages as part of a volunteer media group.
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