News and Media

Press Releases

13
Jun
Press Release

CEP’s Dr. Hany Farid: Tech Companies Need “A Fundamental Change” to Tackle Extremist Content

CEP today released the eighth of a nine-part video series featuring CEP Senior Adviser Dr. Hany Farid , a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. In this week’s video, titled " Pressure Points ," Dr. Farid calls for a collective effort from academics, NGOs, and the public at large, to ensure tech companies do their part to make the Internet a safer place. Despite the proliferation of extremist content online, the right set of pressure points can result in a fundamental change in the way we think about online platforms and how said platforms operate.
10
Jun
Press Release

Extremist Content Online: White Supremacists & Neo-Nazis Continue Thriving on YouTube

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 urges YouTube to strictly enforce its new policy for removing extremist videos, in addition to highlighting white supremacists’ continued use of Gab and ISIS’s release of two new videos and a new text publication.
7
Jun
Press Release

Extremism Spotlight: The Turner Diaries’ Ties to Extremists

For more than 40 years, William Luther Pierce’s The Turner Diaries has served as a “ Handbook for White Victory ” for white nationalists around the world. The book has directly inspired at least three terror attacks, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people. As part of its continuing series spotlighting the worst of the worst online extremists and content, CEP is highlighting the real-world ramifications of the continued online availability of The Turner Diaries .
6
Jun
Press Release

CEP’s Dr. Hany Farid: “Do We Want to Reward the Bad Behavior of [Tech] Companies?”

CEP today released the seventh of a nine-part video series featuring CEP Senior Adviser Dr. Hany Farid , an incoming professor at the University of California at Berkeley. Titled “ Products & Consumers ,” Dr. Farid urges end users to question the inherent value of tech companies and the services they offer, as the status quo of giving away free products has led to everything from data privacy breaches to the proliferation of online extremism.
6
Jun
Press Release

CEP Statement on YouTube Policy: Focus on Removing Videos Denying Historic Violence & Violent Content

CEP Executive Director David Ibsen issued a statement today in response to Google-owned YouTube announcing a new policy that read in part: "Instead of simply enforcing its long-standing community guidelines consistently and transparently, YouTube has once again resorted to big tech’s usual tired PR playbook: publicizing a new policy change via the media only after a highly publicized incident, namely that of a well-known YouTube personality harassing a Vox journalist, which resulted in negative publicity for the company."
31
May
Press Release

Extremism Spotlight: Muslim Brotherhood Ideologue Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s Ties to Extremist Individuals & Organizations

Notorious al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ( AQAP ) propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011, but his death did not silence him. Awlaki’s lectures continued to live on in the Internet and inspire extremism and violence. However, after years of advocacy from CEP , in November 2017, Awlaki’s online presence on YouTube was reduced from 70,000 results to dozens. Unfortunately, many other extremists remain online and their works also calling for hate, terrorism, and violence are still all too accessible.
30
May
Press Release

CEP’s Dr. Hany Farid: “Online Extremism, Child Pornography, Child Sex Trade … It’s the Wild West Out There”

CEP today released the sixth of a nine-part video series featuring CEP Senior Adviser Dr. Hany Farid , a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. In this week’s video, titled “ Advertising ,” Dr. Farid asserts that the current business model for tech companies, free services in exchange for personal data, has created an Internet “wild west.” For end users, this combination has led to, among other things, the proliferation of online extremism and data breaches. We must now begin to think of ways to mitigate this behavior, including legislation.
29
May
Press Release

CEP to Release New Resources Detailing Links Between Extremism & Online Radicalization

Earlier this year, CEP highlighted the online presence of dangerous extremist propagandists and notorious extremist content with links to violence in its Extremism Spotlight series. Continuing to allow this material to remain online to radicalize followers and incite violence is inexplicable, especially in light of Google-owned YouTube’s decision in November 2017 to remove notorious al-Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki from its platform in a “ watershed moment .”
23
May
Press Release

Tech & Terrorism: Facebook Spin Machine Goes Into Overdrive

Earlier this month, an Associated Press investigation exposed whistleblower claims made to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging that Facebook mislead the public about its 99 percent extremist content removal rate. The whistleblower claims that the removal rate was, in reality, just 38 percent. Since then and as expected, Facebook has launched a public relations campaign to try and repair the company’s reputation by reverting to muddled and misleading messaging concerning the efficacy of its artificial intelligence (A.I.) program and its ability to detect and block images and videos that are impermissible on its platform.
22
May
Press Release

John Walker Lindh’s Release Raises an Opportunity & Risk

Tomorrow marks the release of John Walker Lindh , an American captured in Afghanistan while fighting for the Taliban just after the September 11 terrorist attacks. CEP has warned of the societal crisis facing America as more jihadist convicts like Lindh are released back into society over the next decade. In CEP’s December 2018 report, “ When Terrorists Come Home: The Need for Rehabilitating and Reintegrating America’s Convicted Jihadists, ” Parallel Networks founder Mitchell Silber presented potential solutions to reduce terrorists’ rate of recidivism back into violence and extremism once released.