Isis has ordered supporters to follow only its “official” channels amid an onslaught of spoof propaganda and cyberattacks by international intelligence agencies.

A panicked message issued by the terrorist group’s Nashir News Agency on encrypted messaging app Telegram warned against the spread of fake Isis-related news.

“There are currently no Nashir News Agency accounts on Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp or any site other than Telegram, nor is there any account providing links other than known agency accounts,” it said.

“We also caution against any account claiming to be affiliated with the publisher of Nashir News... the specialised agency to publish all that is officially issued by the Islamic State.”

The channel issues text, video and photo reports from militants in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and other countries, as well as material aiming to inspire and instruct followers to launch global terror attacks.

Each Telegram post is seen several thousand times on average, before being translated and spread further on mainstream websites and social media platforms by supporters around the world.

But jihadis have increasingly found themselves being duped by fake Isis propaganda, sparking paranoia and infighting.

A fake version of Isis’s weekly ‘Al-Naba’ newsletter circulated by the Daeshgram group of activists

Daeshgram, a group of Iraqi activists, created a spoof version of Isis’s Al Naba weekly newsletter that was sent out from an official-looking Telegram account.

Jihadis who downloaded the issue were greeted with a doctored photo of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi surrounded by female dancers and an editorial on a fictional Isis team competing in the World Cup.

Daeshgram said it hijacked more than 120 Isis-supporting Telegram groups to spread confusion and mistrust with the fake issue of Al Naba, which was passed onwards.

“Many members who used to trust one another are fighting in their groups and blaming one another,” an activist told The Independent.

“Once they realised they were under attack members were scared, several who clicked our links thought their computers were infected with a virus. .. our operation is continuing but we have already achieved our goal to confuse and scare Isis members and make them doubt each other in a place on the internet where they thought they were untouchable.”

Isis videos and documents are known to have been viewed by terrorists who launched bloody attacks in the UK, as well as “self-radicalised” extremists jailed for planning atrocities.

The group has prioritised the creation of a “virtual caliphate” intended to survive its huge territorial losses in Iraq and Syria, and its slick propaganda operation has been credited with attracting an unprecedented number of foreign supporters.

Its success has made it a target for global intelligence agencies as well as activists, who have been intensifying operations to disrupt Isis’s messaging.

A message on Isis’s official Nashir News Agency Telegram channel warning supporters not to fall for fake accounts

GCHQ revealed that the UK had launched a “major offensive cyber campaign” against Isis earlier this year, which may also have included fake propaganda.

Director Jeremy Fleming said Isis had understood the power of online communications “to radicalise and scare” better than any previous terrorist group.

“They know potential sympathisers react well to slickly produced, unfiltered videos and magazines that can be downloaded and watched on smartphones, and they know which platforms to use to reach them,” he added.

“In recent years we’ve seen the impact of this approach all over Europe. And last year it came to our shores too with attacks in London and here in Manchester.”

He said agents at GCHQ and the Ministry of Defence had suppressed Isis propaganda, hindered the group’s ability to coordinate attacks and protected coalition forces on the battlefield, adding: “In 2017 there were times when Daesh found it almost impossible to spread their hate online, to use their normal channels to spread their rhetoric, or trust their publications.”

In April, British intelligence was involved in a fresh onslaught against Isis’s Amaq, al-Bayan radio, Halummu and Nashir news websites, alongside US and European allies.

Europol said Isis’s ability to broadcast and publicise terrorist material had been “compromised” by a mix of cooperation with internet service providers and cyberattacks.

Security services were working to identify Isis administrators and radicalised individuals across Europe and beyond with the data retrieved.

Timeline: The emergence of Isis Show all 40 1 /40 Timeline: The emergence of Isis Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2000 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (pictured here) forms an al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq, al-Qa’eda in Iraq. Its brutality from the beginning alienates Iraqis and many al-Qaeda leaders. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2006 Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike. Al-Zarqawi’s successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, announces the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2009 Still al-Qaeda-linked ISI claims responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 155 in Baghdad, as well as attacks in August and October killing 240, as President Obama announces troop withdrawal from Iraq in March. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2010 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes head of ISI, at lowest ebb of Islamist militancy in Iraq, which sees last U.S. combat brigade depart. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2012 In Syria, protests (pictured here starting in Daree) have morphed into what president Assad labelled a “real war” with emergence of a coalition of forces opposed to Assad’s regime. Syria group Jabhat al-Nusra are among rebel groups who refuse to join, denouncing it as a “conspiracy”. Bombings targeting Shia areas, killing more than 500 people, spark fears of new sectarian conflict. Sunni Muslims stage protests across country against what they see as increasingly marginalisation by Shia-led government. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2013 Al-Baghdadi renames ISI as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or Isis, as the group absorbs Syrian al-Nusra, gaining a foothold in Syria. In response, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri (Bin Laden’s successor) concerned about Isis’ expansion orders that Isis be dissolved and ISI operations should be confined to Iraq. This order is rejected by al-Baghdadi. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - January Isis fighters capture the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, giving them base to launch slew of attacks further south. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis declares itself the Caliphate, calling itself Islamic State (IS). The group captures Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city; Tal Afar, just 93 miles from Syrian border; and the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. These advances sent shockwaves around the world. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Around the same time Isis releases a video calling for western Muslims to join the Caliphate and fight, prompting new evaluations of extremists groups social media understanding. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis take Baiji oil fields in Iraq - giving them access to huge amounts of possible revenue. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August James Foley is executed by the group as concerns grow for second American prisoner, fellow reporter Steven Sotloff. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August Obama authorises U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, helping to stall Isis’ along with action by Kurdish forces following the deaths of hundreds of Yazidi people on Mount Sinjar. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release video showing Steven Sotloff’s murder prompting Western speculation his executioner is same man who killed Mr Foley. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Obama tells us that America “will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country” EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release a video appearing to show David Haines, who was captured by militants in Syria in 2013, wearing an orange jumpsuit and kneeling in the desert while he reads a pre-prepared script. It later shows what appears to be the aid worker's body. Rex Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Peshmerga fighters scrabble to hold positions in the Diyala province (a gateway to Baghdad) as Isis fighters continue to advance on Iraqi capital. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Aid worker Alan Henning is killed. Self-imposed media blackout refuses to show images of him in final moments, instead focuses upon humanitarian care. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Isis raise their flag in Kobani, which had been strongly defended by Kurdish troops. The victory goes against hopeful western analysis Isis had overextended itself, while alienating much of the Muslim population through the murder of Henning. Victory causes fresh waves of Kurdish refugees arriving in Turkey. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - November American hostage, who embarced values of Islam, Peter Kassig and 14 Syrian soldiers are shown meeting the same fate as other captives. But intelligence agencies will be poring over the apparently significant discrepancies between this and previous films. Seramedig.org.uk Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis has released a video revealing the murder by burning to death of a Jordanian pilot held by the group since the end of December 2014. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have released videos which appear to show the beheading of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February American aid worker, Kayla Mueller was the last American hostage known to be held by Isis. She died, according to her captors, in an airstrike by the Jordanian air force on the city of Raqqa in Syria, though US authorities disputed this. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have posted a gruesome video online in which they force 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages to kneel on a beach in Libya before beheading them. Egypt vowed to avenge the beheading and launched air strikes on Isis positions. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February The British Isis militant suspected of appearing in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages has been named in reports as Mohammed Emwazi from London. Rex Features Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - March Isis triple suicide attack has killed more than 100 worshippers and hundreds of others were injured after the group members targeted two mosques in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Iraqi forces have claimed victory over Isis in battle for Tikrit and raised the flag in the city. EPA/STR Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 35 people queuing to collect their wages and injured 100 more. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis’ media arm released a 29-minute video purporting to show militants executing Ethiopian Christians captives. The footage bore the extremist group’s al-Furqan media logo and showed the destruction of churches and desecration of religious symbols. A masked fighter made a statement threatening Christians who did not convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis has been "incapacitated" by a spinal injuries sustained in a US air strike in Iraq. He is being treated in a hideout by two doctors from Isis’ stronghold of Mosul who are said to be "strong ideological supporters of the group". Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis has also claimed responsibility for killing 300 of Yazidi captives, including women, children and elderly people in Iraq AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis attack on Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest in Texas was its first action on US soil. Two gunmen were shot and killed after launching the attack at the exhibition. Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi have been named as the attackers at the Curtis Culwell Centre arena in Garland. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis’s deputy leader, Abu Alaa Afri, a former physics teacher who was thought to have taken charge of the deadly terrorist group, has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May US special forces have killed a senior Isis leader named as Abu Sayyaf in an operation aiming to capture him and his wife in Syria. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Iran-backed militias are sent to Ramadi by the Iraqi government to fight Isis militants who completed their capture of the city. Government soldiers and civilians were reportedly massacred by extremists as they took control and the army fled. Charred bodies were left littering the city streets as troops clung on to trucks speeding away from the city. Ramadi is the latest government stronghold to fall to the so-called Islamic State, despite air strikes by a US-led international coalition aiming to stop its advance in Iraq and Syria. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis rounded up civilians trapped in Palmyra and forced them to watch 20 people being executed in the historic city’s ancient amphitheatre. The Unesco World Heritage site was overrun by militants, threatening the future of 2,000 year-old monuments and ruins. Thousands of Palmyra’s residents fled but many are still living within the city walls, while the UN human rights office in Geneva said it had received reports of Syrian government forces preventing people from leaving until they retreated from the city. Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May A group of Isis-affiliated fighters have captured a key airport in central Libya. The militants took control of the al-Qardabiya airbase in Sirte after a local militia tasked with defending the facility withdrew from their positions. Affiliates of Isis, already control large parts of Sirte, the birthplace of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and a former stronghold of his supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June The US Air Force has destroyed an Isis stronghold after an extremist let slip their location on social media. According the Air Force Times, General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said that Airmen at Hulburt Field, Florida, used images shared by jihadists to track the location of their headquarters before destroying it in an airstrike. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Kurdish forces captured a key military base in a significant victory in Raqqa as well as town of Tell Abyad. YPG fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes and other rebels, consolidated their gains, when they seized the key town on the Syria-Turkey border. They are now just 30 miles to the north of Raqqa and have cut off a major supply route deep inside Isis-held territory. Ahmet Silk/Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has released gruesome footage claiming to show the murder of more than a dozen men by drowning, decapitation and using a rocket-propelled grenade as it seeks to boost morale among its fanatical supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has begun carrying out its threat to destroy structures in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, blowing up at least two monuments at the Unesco-protected site as Syrian government troops made advances on the Islamist’s positions. AFP

Recent court cases have also revealed the existence of British spies role-playing as Isis fighters and propagandists on Telegram and other platforms, where they gather intelligence on terrorists who believe them to be like-minded extremists.

When Isis declared its “caliphate” in early 2014, it was openly publishing propaganda on mainstream social networks and open websites, while many foreign fighters became notorious for documenting their lives on Twitter and blogs.

The size and complexity of the terrorist group’s propaganda network was unprecedented, seeing material published in almost a dozen languages across websites, social media, automated emails, dedicated apps and extensions for internet browsers.

But detection and removal work has since pushed it into ever more obscure corners of the internet.

Experts caution that while Isis’s propaganda operation is under pressure and much of its former territory in Syria and Iraq had been retaken, it has already gained ideological notoriety around the world.

Raffaello Pantucci, the director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute, in London, said the group is continuing to jump across different platforms.

“Clearly there’s a real question of integrity around their material and they’re stuck in a situation where no one necessarily trusts it anymore,” he told The Independent.

“It’s important that we disrupt this stuff but you can’t kid yourself that this will go away ... the real threat comes from the fact there are angry people who are unhappy with governance in parts of the world.”

Mr Pantucci said Isis, which puts out utopian images depicting life under its rule alongside gory footage of executions and battles, is trying to “project an image of normality” after huge territorial losses.