Highlights from Tech Against Terrorism, 2019
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The year 2019 saw a number of examples that showcase the ways in which terrorist use of the internet is a constantly evolving threat. The most high-profile case was the Christchurch attack in March 2019, where the perpetrator live streamed his murder of 51 people at two mosques. As shown in research conducted by Tech Against Terrorism, 2019 also saw terrorist groups like the so-called Islamic State (IS) and other violent extremist far-right groups continue their experimentation with new technologies, including the decentralised web and open source licensing. Both tech companies and governments have responded to many of these challenges. Following the Christchurch attack, industry bodies like the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), Europol, and the Christchurch Call to Action (an initiative launched by the governments of New Zealand and France) all initiated protocols aimed at stifling the viral proliferation of terrorist content in relation to terrorist attacks. These initiatives were then deployed in the Halle attack in Germany, where the live stream of an attack on a synagogue failed to reach the same level of virality as the Christchurch attack – in large part thanks to the cross-industry responses around crisis coordination that had been put in place. While terrorist use of the internet continues to evolve, smaller tech platforms remain at high risk of exploitation. Several smaller companies being used by terrorist groups – whether they be messaging, fintech, e-commerce, or content-sharing apps – do not have the resources necessary to tackle this threat. At Tech Against Terrorism, our focus lies on supporting these smaller platforms in tackling terrorist use of their services whilst respecting human rights. In 2019, we expanded our programme of work to include a more diverse set of approaches in supporting the tech industry to include:
- Direct consultation with more than 80 tech companies
- Introduction of the Tech Against Terrorism Mentorship programme to support the GIFCT Membership scheme and provision of one-on-one mentorship to eight companies in the areas of content standards, transparency, human rights, and content moderation
- Introduction of a password protection system on Jihadology.net to protect the site from use by terrorists whilst preserving the site’s status as the central hub for terrorist content for academic research purposes
- Funding and commencement of planning for the Terrorist Content Analytics Platform, the world’s first free centralised database of verified terrorist content aiming to support smaller tech companies improve content moderation
- Four global workshops (in Europe, South Asia, North America, and the Middle East) on behalf of the GIFCT, attended by at-risk tech companies, senior government officials, leading civil society organisations
- Five webinars for smaller tech companies
- The Tech Against Terrorism Podcast
- Increased research output (see section B.5 in this report)
- Increased investment in open source intelligence (OSINT) – a core part of Tech Against Terrorism’s work • Participation in high-level stakeholder processes, including the Christchurch Call to Action, the EU Internet Forum, and Europol’s development of a crisis coordination protocol
In this report, we have provided a detailed summary of our activities in the past year across our three workstreams: outreach, knowledge sharing and operational support. We welcome feedback on our work from our stakeholders including tech companies, civil society groups, governments and inter-governmental organisations, as well as the public.
