News and Media

Press Releases

25
Feb
Press Release

Extremist Content Online: Telegram Used by ISIS to Spread Propaganda Globally

CEP reports weekly on the methods used by extremists to exploit the Internet and social media platforms to recruit followers and incite violence. This week’s edition reveals a Telegram channel that called for lone actor terrorist attacks in London, alongside other online websites that host ISIS videos and propaganda online.
23
Feb
Press Release

YouTube Child Exploitation Scandal Shows Once Again That Big Tech Only Acts Following Controversy

CEP Executive Director David Ibsen released a statement after Google-owned YouTube was found to be facilitating pedophiles’ ability to connect and share content harmful to children. Since the incident, major companies like Disney, Nestle, Epic Games and others have pulled their advertising dollars from the platform, forcing YouTube to address the controversy.
19
Feb
Press Release

Extremist Content Online: ISIS Videos Continue to be Uploaded to the Internet In 2019

CEP reports on the methods used by extremists to exploit the Internet and social media platforms to recruit followers and incite violence. Today’s edition exposes ISIS videos demonstrating executions, explosives construction and violent propaganda hosted across platforms from Google Blogger, Telegram, Streamable , the Japanese site Nico Video, and file upload sites.
15
Feb
Press Release

CEP Statement: WordPress Removes Neo-Nazi Website After CEP Publishes Findings

CEP Executive Director David Ibsen released the following statement today after a website from the white supremacist group Feuerkrieg Division (FKD) was taken offline by website management and blogging platform WordPress. The removal comes on the heels of a CEP report and letter addressed to WordPress that found FKD had been using a WordPress-hosted website for recruitment and propaganda purposes. FKD acknowledged CEP’s role in provoking WordPress action on its Gab account.
12
Feb
Press Release

Extremism Spotlight: The Turner Diaries’ Online Reach Could Inspire New Generation of White Supremacists

C ontinuing its series chronicling the most egregious online extremists, CEP is now turning to The Turner Diaries , a novel considered to be the “bible” of the American white power movement. A work of fiction first published in 1978, it describes a revolution by white supremacists in the U.S. who perpetrate acts of terrorism against the U.S. government, culminating in a race war, and the global genocide of Jews and non-whites.
12
Feb
Press Release

In Case You Missed It: GoDaddy Refuses to Take Down Terror Group’s Website

Domain registrar and webhosting companies have played an increasingly larger role in the proliferation of online extremism. Recently, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) spotlighted a website from the terror group Kataib Hezbollah (KH), which since 2016 has been hosted by GoDaddy . The website boasts of “[cutting] off the hand of America” and KH is responsible for the killings hundreds of American soldiers, UN workers and civilians – a clear violation of GoDaddy’s terms of services and grounds for removal.
11
Feb
Press Release

Extremist Content Online: Neo-Nazis Continue Recruiting

CEP reports weekly on the methods used by extremists to exploit the Internet and social media platforms to recruit followers and incite violence. Today’s edition details the creation of the new neo-Nazi group Feuerkrieg Division, a post calling for violence on a white supremacist online forum, and the release of new ISIS content.
7
Feb
Press Release

ICYMI: CEP Spotlight On Siege Manifesto Elicits YouTube Response

CEP spotlighted Google-owned YouTube’s blind eye toward the neo-Nazi manifesto Siege’s proliferation on its platform. Even though it is well known to inspire two active neo-Nazi groups, the Atomwaffen Division and the Sonnenkrieg Division, one can find an audiobook of Siege on YouTube. The book, which calls for violence against the U.S. government, as well as the killing of Jews and people of mixed race, has been viewed or listened to thousands of times. 9News reached out to YouTube and received a familiar and tired platitude of protecting free speech – despite Siege’s hate speech and calls for radicalization.
5
Feb
Press Release

CEP Challenges Mark Zuckerberg To Discuss Tech Issues With Top American & European Experts

CEP today extended an invitation to Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to join top American and European experts for a public conversation about the threat posed by extremist content that proliferates on Facebook. This invitation follows Zuckerberg ’s public commitment to hosting a series of “public discussions about the future of technology in society.” In a letter to Mr. Zuckerberg , CEP CEO Executive Officer Ambassador Mark D. Wallace requested his participation in a discussion alongside several CEP advisors uniquely qualified to speak to the real threat posed to the general public by extremist content on Facebook.
5
Feb
Press Release

Extremism Spotlight: Radical Islamist Preacher Ahmad Musa Jibril Circumvents Terms of Services

CEP is spotlighting Ahmad Musa Jibril , a Michigan-based Salafist preacher known for his support of violence and role in radicalizing one of the 2017 ISIS London Bridge attackers. In his online lectures, Jibril is careful to not specifically call for violence or endorse particular extremist organizations; instead, he offers a strict religious interpretation hostile to the West. However, he was convicted of and served time for crimes, such as fraud and money laundering. After he served time in prison, Jibril violated the terms of his probation, leading a federal judge to restrict his use of Internet and social media access between June 2014 and March 2015.