News and Media

Tumblr, the social media and blogging platform, is a haven for extremists, whether they support ISIS or violent neo-Nazi groups. The website, purchased by Yahoo for $1.1 billion in 2013 and now owned by Verizon subsidiary Oath, recently gained attention for its role in Russian efforts to manipulate the American electorate in 2016. Troubling content on the site is not only limited to state sponsored propaganda efforts - supporters of extremist groups also use the site to spread their violent ideologies. The boundless variety of topics on Tumblr might make the emergence of extremist content inevitable, but the company is failing to actively confront material that clearly violates its Terms of Service.

Tumblr is an easy-to-use web platform that allows effortless posting and sharing of text, photos, gifs, and videos while using custom layouts. The site is ranked 24^th in the U.S. and 56^th globally based on web traffic, and has close to 400 million blogs, according to the company. The site is known as a location for content on a myriad of specific interests, from fashion photography, to television fandom, to micro internet subcultures. Tumblr states that it’s a place “where your interests connect you with your people,” but that is a problem when your interests include hate and violence.

The site hosts numerous blogs that post brutal extremist content. ISIS followers have used the platform to post violent videos, propaganda photos including executions, exhortations to commit terror attacks, and advice on how to provide material support to the terror group. Tumblr has also been used to share dozens of links to ISIS videos posted on other websites. Similarly, the site has been used by neo-Nazis to glorify terrorists such as Anders Breivik and spread content that calls for the murder of Jews and federal employees. Propaganda made by groups such as the paramilitary Atomwaffen Division and the banned British neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action are easily available.

All of this content remains on the site despite Tumblr’s clear community guidelines and Terms of Service. Specifically, the community guidelines prohibit “violence or hatred,” in addition to “violent threats or statements that incite violence, including threatening or promoting terrorism.” Tumblr stresses it may “terminate or suspend your access…without prior notice or liability, for any reason…including but not limited to if you breach any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement.” But strong words, as these examples make clear, are meaningless unless backed up by the will to act.

Tumblr has declared 2018 a year of action, pledging support to a range of causes ranging from black representation in media, to youth election engagement, to gender equality. These goals are commendable, but Tumblr should also look closer to home and act in compliance with its own rules to remove dangerous content that promotes terrorism and violence.

On March 8, 2016, 29-year-old American combat veteran Taylor Force was brutally murdered in a Tel Aviv stabbing spree that wounded 10 other people. The attacker, 22-year-old Bashar Masalha of the West Bank, was shot dead by Israeli police. A native of Lubbock, Texas, Force graduated from West Point in 2009 and served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was in Israel on a trip with his Vanderbilt University classmates.

While Force’s family was left to mourn his slaying, Masalha’s family reportedly began earning a monthly salary from the Palestinian Authority (PA). Masalha’s family is but one of many receiving these stipends from the PA, colloquially known as “pay-for-slay.” Palestinian government money is paid out to terrorists serving sentences in Israeli prisons, as well as to the families of any Palestinian killed by Israel, including terrorists killed carrying out a terror attack. Like Masalha.

In July 2017, the Times of Israel reported that—based on numbers provided by the PA Finance Ministry—the PA’s budget allocated more than $344 million for so-called martyrs’ payments to prisoners and families of those “killed or wounded in the struggle against Zionism.” Of the $344 million, about $153 million was allocated to current and former prisoners, while $191 million was earmarked for “families of martyrs,” an increase of more than $16 million over the previous year.

It is an odious practice that encourages and rewards terrorism. Inspired by the tragic death of Taylor Force, the U.S. Congress is pushing the PA to end these payments by threatening to cut off American aid. Introduced in the House of Representatives and in the Senate in 2017, the Taylor Force Act conditions U.S. aid on the PA taking steps to end the financial incentive to carry our violence and terrorism against Israeli and U.S. citizens. The bills specifically call for an end to payments to the families of those imprisoned after being convicted of terrorist acts or who died while carrying out terrorist acts.

The U.S. government is the largest donor to the PA, though its payments are indirect. Overall, since the creation of the PA in 1994, the U.S. government has contributed more than $5 billion in bilateral economic and non-lethal security assistance. U.S. aid, is divided into three categories: development and humanitarian assistance through USAID, economic assistance for law and order, and support for the U.N. Relief Works Agency (UNRWA). In fiscal year 2016, the U.S. government contributed $290 million to the PA through USAID and $54.8 million for security and justice assistance.

The House passed the Taylor Force Act in December. Senate sponsor, Senator Lindsay Graham, believes it will pass soon as part of an omnibus spending bill.

Support for the bill is not universal in Israel. More than 100 Israeli generals spoke out last year warning that the denial of U.S. economic aid to the PA could leave it unable to fund infrastructure projects and cause massive budget gaps, hastening its economic collapse and fostering chaos and insecurity.

Furthermore, Palestinian security cooperation has helped Israel maintain relative calm in the West Bank. Without a functioning PA, the West Bank could fall into anarchy, allowing Hamas—or something worse—to seize control. Should that scenario play out, Israel would have no choice but to reassert its military authority throughout the territory to prevent Hamas from seizing power. Commanders for Israel’s Security, the group of Israeli generals and senior intelligence officials behind last year’s protest against the bill, has called for the bill’s details to be changed to prevent this scenario. Similarly, an August 2017 op-ed co-authored by CEP Board Member Ambassador Dennis Ross called for incentivizing the PA to reform, rather than punishing it.

The pernicious practice of so-called martyrs’ payments must end, there is no disagreement on this point. The question is how?

In the coming months, Hizb ut-Tahrir America—the U.S. chapter of the Hizb ut-Tahrir (“HT”) Islamist network—plans to host its annual Khilafa Conference, which extols the virtues of establishing a future global Islamic caliphate. While HT doesn’t explicitly call for violence, it does indoctrinate the impressionable to a way of thinking that can and has led members toward violent extremism. Because of its incendiary and radical teachings, Hilton, Ramada, Best Western, and other hotel companies should thoroughly reject HT’s brand of extremism and deny HT a venue.

HT seeks to transform existing Muslim governments into a single Islamic caliphate based on a hardline interpretation of the Quran. HT intends to do this through grassroots outreach to sway Muslims to effect change through popular protest. HT’s international leaders have spoken out vociferously against Western ideals of freedom and tolerance. For example, Australian HT representative Uthman Bader has openly endorsed the death penalty for Muslim apostates. Abdul Wahid, executive chair of HT Britain, has denounced valuable and necessary extremist deradicalization programs for “making people less Islamic.”

Former HT leader Maajid Nawaz, now a renowned international advocate against extremism, has recalled the “ambivalent” attitude toward terrorist violence within HT, which has its share of infamous alumni. Before joining al-Qaeda, both Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and former al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were members of HT. ISIS executioner Mohammed Emwazi, a.k.a. “Jihadi John,” reportedly attended HT events while in university in England. In 1996, former HT leader Omar Bakri Muhammad founded al-Muhajiroun with Anjem Choudary. The British government has outlawed al-Muhajiroun, a terrorist organization that is reportedly linked to half of the terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom since 1995. Choudary is currently serving a prison sentence for supporting ISIS, while Bakri Muhammad is serving a prison sentence in Lebanon for creating a Lebanese al-Qaeda affiliate.

HT has been banned in multiple countries, including Germany, Turkey, Russia, and Jordan. Using freedom of speech as a shield for its odious rhetoric, HT remains free to operate within most Western democracies, including Australia, Great Britain, and the United States. The Australian and British governments have sought to ban the group.

While HT certainly has the constitutional right to free speech and assembly, private U.S. corporations have no obligation to provide them venues for the propagation of extremism. Indeed, there is precedent for rejecting HT. In 2012, the Meadows Club in Illinois refused to host HT’s annual conference. Marriott also canceled a 2010 HT event in Illinois. Since 2014, HT America has found a home at the Ramada Inn in Glendale Heights, Illinois, where it has held at least nine events. In 2017, the Ramada hosted HT’s annual conference in April and then another gathering in June.

CEP has written to Ramada’s corporate management—the Wyndham Hotel Group—requesting that it examine HT’s record and bar the organization from using its facilities. While the hotel chain did not respond, HT’s public event in November, 2017 was instead held at the Hilton Indian Lakes Hotel in Bloomingdale, Illinois. We hope that means Ramada’s corporate leaders reconsidered the business ramifications of hosting a global Islamist group. Sadly, the Hilton corporation has also been unresponsive to written concerns about HT.

Both companies boast of their commitment to corporate social responsibility and human rights. This should include denying space to groups that overtly promote radical ideologies. These hotel chains should take the moral and responsible stand and ensure that there is no room for hatred and extremism.

On February 13, a channel titled “Le Moujahid Solitaire” (The Lone/Solitary Mujahid) appeared on the Telegram messaging platform. The French language group posted information on several types of explosives that can be made with legally obtainable components, as well as how to manufacture various poisons. The channel also shared a link to a bomb-making instructional video hosted on the French video-sharing site, Dailymotion. The Telegram channel is notable because of its content and French-language focus, especially following the recent arrest of a man in Nîmes, France who was suspected of planning a terrorist attack.

Telegram is an encrypted chat and message service available for mobile devices and personal computers. The program is free, allows for anonymity, and is easy to use, allowing users to quickly share text, video, and audio content. As of December 2017, it had more than 180 million users worldwide and continues to gain hundreds of thousands of new users every day. It wasn’t until after the November 2015 Paris attacks that Telegram felt compelled to crack down on terrorists’ misuse of its platform, following allegations that the ISIS assailants used the tool to communicate and plot. Telegram continued to face controversy when, in late January, the company’s mobile app was temporarily removed from the Apple Store due to users disseminating child pornography.

The “Le Moujahid Solitaire” is the first French language iteration of the notorious English language Telegram channel, “Lone Mujahid.” This channel was known for bomb making instructions, advice on knife attacks, and suggesting potential targets. Previous versions of the “Lone Mujahid” channel have used British English, and have urged attacks in the U.K. and Australia. The French language focus of the channel is new, and with more than 125 members, it shows the continued desire of ISIS and their online supporters to strike in Europe.

The appearance of “Le Moujahid Solitaire” follows several recent terrorism related arrests in France. On January 20, 2018, it was reported that French authorities had arrested a man in Nîmes who was in possession of explosives and bomb-making instructions. The individual had made a video in which he pledged allegiance to ISIS. In September and November, French police made several arrests related to suspected terror cells, including potential bombings. French authorities claimed that in the November arrests, perpetrators communicated via Telegram.

Telegram claims to close approximately 100-200 ISIS Telegram channels per day for violations of its terms of use, yet troubling channels continue to appear on the platform. As long as the company refuses to take further action to permanently remove and/or prevent the ongoing misuse of its platform, channels such as “Lone Mujahid” and its potential foreign language offshoots will flourish. Moreover, the appearance of the French Telegram channel illustrates how the threat of ISIS remains despite the group’s decrease in territorial holdings.