Reader's Digest - 13 March 2020

Terrorist and violent extremist use of the Internet

– “Telegram’s cryptocurrency could have a terrorism problem”: Telegram began 2020 with an announcement that it would be launching its own cryptocurrency, Grams, and the Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain with the aim of integrating a crypto-wallet to their messaging service. However, Grams and TON remain on hold while Telegram fights an ongoing lawsuit with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which sued Telegram last October for “illegally offering digital asset securities." In this article, Andrew Mines assesses the potential risks associated with integrating cryptocurrencies onto a platform known for being exploited by terrorist and violent extremists actors. (Mines, Just Security, 05.03.2020)

Far-right violent extremism and terrorism  

– “States pushes to list white supremacist group as terrorist org”: In what Politico refers to as an “unprecedented move,” the US State Department is pushing for one white supremacist group – believed by analysts to be Atomwaffen Division – to be designated as a “foreign terrorist organization.” Politico stresses that this would signal that the US views far-right violent extremism and terrorism as a rising transnational threat. This designation would also allow easier prosecution of suspected members for terrorist related offences, and monitoring of Americans training with designated groups overseas. The State Department's announcement follows the decision by the FBI to elevate far-right violent extremism to the same level of threat as Islamist terrorism earlier this year. (Politico, 09.03.2020) 

– “What do we know about the extreme right in Germany”: In this article, Cristina Ariza examines far-right violent extremism in Germany. Providing a timeline of recent attacks and foiled plots in the country, as well as an analysis of the country’s response to this threat, Ariza calls for a continuous refining of counterterrorism efforts to adapt to new and evolving challenges. (Ariza, CARR, 06.03.2020)

– "Hope, cope & rope: incels i digitala miljöer": In this study, the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) analyses the three largest global incel forums to better understand the global incel movement based on their online presence. Examining the forums between October and December 2019, the study found that the largest incel forums had between 8 and 9 million unique visitors, but that the forums on average only had around a 1,000 regularly active users within the timeframe examined. Using discourse analysis, the report found that the forums have a significantly higher “hate level” than the Reddit forums where online manifestations of the incel movement originated, and that the incel movement is reminiscent of “political extremis[m]” in its worldview. The two most common nationalities across the forums were American and British, whereas Sweden had the largest presence on a per capita ratio. (Article in Swedish; Swedish Defence Research Agency, 03.03.2020)

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Background to Tech Against Terrorism

Tech Against Terrorism is an initiative launched by the United Nations Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate (UN CTED) in April 2017. We support the global technology sector in responding to terrorist use of the internet whilst respecting human rights, and we work to promote public-private partnerships to mitigate this threat. Our research shows that terrorist groups - both jihadist and far-right terrorists - consistently exploit smaller tech platforms when disseminating propaganda. At Tech Against Terrorism, our mission is to support smaller tech companies in tackling this threat whilst respecting human rights and to provide companies with practical tools to facilitate this process. As a public-private partnership, the initiative has been supported by the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) and the governments of Spain, Switzerland, the Republic of Korea, and Canada.