News and Media

On July 29, a group of Westerners cycling through Tajikistan were attacked, resulting in four killed, including two Americans, a Swiss citizen and a Dutch national. Three more were injured in the attack, which ISIS quickly claimed credit for. The cyclists were hit by a car, whose occupants then stabbed the travelers with knives. Unlike the Toronto attack last month however, ISIS was quickly able to provide proof of its involvement, rel easing a video on pro-ISIS Telegram channels showing the attackers pledging their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and ISIS.

August marks the first anniversary of the tragic events in Charlottesville – and despite all the uproar that followed, Facebook’s promises to take more action against hate groups have rung hollow. The Guardian reports that the same actors involved in the original “Unite The Right” rally have now “managed to return to the major internet platforms – if they ever left in the first place.”

CEP Executive Director David Ibsen issued a statement in response to reports about Google’s plans to relaunch a censored version of its search engine in China to meet that authoritarian government’s demands to limit free speech that read in part: "For over a year, we have heard Google tout their counter-extremism efforts as well as their support for the First Amendment. However, Google’s latest proposal to enter the Chinese market will hopefully put an end to a roadshow of Google representatives citing openness and freedom of speech and expression as justifications for their unwillingness or inability to remove extremist content from their platforms.”

CEP Executive Director David Ibsen released a statement in response to tech giants releasing figures on how much hateful content they blocked or removed under Germany’s Network Enforcement Act as well as reports that the European Union is planning to propose new rules regulating steps tech companies, such as Google, Twitter and Facebook, must follow when taking down extremist content from their platforms.

The shooting in Toronto this week demonstrated the extent to which ISIS has mastered the use of social media and the Internet to spread its propaganda. Although authorities have stated that there was no known terrorist involvement for the incident, ISIS was quick to claim cre dit. Using the encrypted messaging app Telegram, it claimed that Hussain was “a soldier of the Islamic State” and “carried out the attack in response to appeals targeting nationals of the coalition countries.”

Facebook released its second quarter financial results this week and the results were not good. Its stock prices were down approximately 20 percent, and its depressed long-term revenue growth and profit outlook was described as “shocking.” As Wired reports, for many investors, this was a wakeup call and repudiation of the thesis that “Facebook makes so much money that it would barely notice the costs associated with better policing its platform for fake news, hate speech, fake accounts and election manipulation.”

MIAMI – On Friday, July 27, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and Asymmetrica will host a discussion in Miami on a new report about transnational organized crime in Latin America’s Tri-Border Area in Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, commonly known as the Golden Hydra. The report ,...

New York, NY – The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) will hold a press call with Senior Advisor Dr. Hany Farid on Tuesday, July 24, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. ET. Dr. Farid will discuss the release of a new CEP report detailing ISIS content on YouTube. WHO: Dr. Hany Farid, Senior Advisor, Counter...