Facebook emerges as 'terrorist recruiting ground' (Nick Allen)

The US government has warned that terrorist groups like al-Qaeda are targeting Facebook as a prime recruitment ground

Dec. 10, 2010 -- LOS ANGELES (Telegraph) -- A Department of Homeland Security report said extremists had focused on the social networking website as a way to identify sympathisers and disseminate information on bomb making.

It said terrorists are trying to exploit a "non-ideological medium" which allows them to reach a wider audience, and are specifically infiltrating Facebook because it has 500 million users.

Investigators looking at the website found videos on "getting to know your AK-47" and "how to field strip an AK-47," and instructions on how to make nitric acid.

The report, which was leaked to Fox News, said: "In this way Facebook acts as a gateway or launching pad for further radicalisation and for easy access to sites where explosives recipes and IED information are regularly posted."

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