All News

Many terrorist offenders imprisoned in the European Union and the United States will be released in the coming years. The significant increase in convictions of Foreign Terrorist Fighters since 2014 has created a larger than ever terrorism-related prison population in the United States as well as in several European states. Therefore, governments, prison authorities, as well as rehabilitation professionals are confronted with growing challenges to ensure that the reintegration of released terrorist offenders is successful and that the recidivism rate stabilizes at acceptable levels.

Extremist groups spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have moved away from popular social media platforms to other sites to sow discord and disperse their radical ideologies. Extremists are increasingly favoring alternatives such as Google Drive and Internet Archive over major social media platforms in order to avoid detection and takedowns of their violent propaganda and misinformation campaigns. This shift in tactics calls into question the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism’s (GIFCT) efficacy, which was created by the tech industry to prevent extremists from misusing sites across the Internet.

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) reports weekly on the methods used by extremists to exploit the Internet and social media platforms to recruit followers and incite violence. Last week, three separate uploads of James Mason ’s neo-Nazi manifesto Siege were made available for purchase on the website Lulu, a print-on-demand, self-publishing, and distribution online marketplace that halted sales of the book from its site in April 2019. Additionally, CEP researchers located the website for a North American-based neo-Nazi group which features essays idolizing Adolf Hitler and national socialism, and encourage the spread of anti-Semitism and racism.