Research on reporting war and security has benefited greatly form Grusin's Premediation: Affect and Mediality After 9/11 (2010). Here I employ his concepts in combination with my own cyberconflict theory to examine the mediatization of Islamic State in the social media battleground. Deliberation, propaganda, recruitment and mobilization through social media networks on the Islamic State (IS) by the various protagonists, including IS itself, point to a construction of discourse in commercial platforms which creates ethical issues surrounding security, surveillance and problems government and commercial actors face in responding to the group's media activities. Premediation on the part of all parties in the "war on terror" is evident in the case of Islamic State. Processes of premediation and ineffective countermessaging strategies by the U.S. and its allies can only continue to empower the political influence of Islamic State in the digital public sphere.