ISIS

Recent attacks by Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara—local affiliates of al-Qaeda and ISIS—against one another is punctuating a security breakdown in West Africa, a region already challenged by ongoing violence. Extremists had held a loose alliance to fight Western-backed governments across the Sahel, but that has broken in recent months under the weight of the French-led and American-backed military campaign to eliminate the terror threat.

(New York, N.Y) - 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, 10 or more neo-Nazi and white supremacist accelerationist Telegram...

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, multiple white supremacist Telegram channels and chan users celebrated the five year anniversary of the shooting massacre committed by white supremacist Dylann Roof that left nine dead in Charleston, South Carolina. In addition, CEP researchers located two new ISIS Amaq news videos. Also, a Telegram channel was located claiming affiliation to an alleged Brazilian Atomwaffen Division (AWD) group and a white supremacist Telegram channel shared instructional information on manufacturing 9mm ammunition. Finally, a white supremacist user of an 8chan successor website suggested individuals should commit false flag property attacks against local politicians in an effort to turn them against anti-police brutality protests.

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, ISIS supporters circumvented efforts by Telegram to disrupt and slow the spread of ISIS content on its platform and continued to disperse ISIS propaganda using the messaging app’s Telegra.ph feature. Also, a pro-ISIS cyber security group, Electronic Horizons Foundation, released a guide for using the Hoop Messenger platform. Meanwhile, neo-Nazis uploaded a video to Telegram and YouTube of various individuals harassing and threatening Black Lives Matter protesters in Knoxville, Tennessee. Finally, CEP researchers located two videos from the white supremacist group Russian Imperial Movement (RIM) on YouTube as well as a video message from the cofounder of the white supremacist movement, Rise Above Movement (RAM), advocating for white vigilantism.

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, white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups leveraged their Telegram channels to capitalize on the ongoing U.S. protests and civil disorder, encouraging users to incite violence against protesters and advocating for attacks on infrastructure including power grids. In addition, CEP researchers discovered a Telegram channel allegedly created by a Russian affiliate of the neo-Nazi Attomwaffen Division (AWD) and also located a Dhivehi Maldivian pro-ISIS propaganda group on Facebook. Finally, pro-ISIS Telegram channels began urging followers to switch to the Hoop Messenger application.

Following a lull in the second half of April, ISIS attacks increased in both quantity and geographic diversity during May. This boost in activity coincided with increasingly persistent and widespread anti-ISIS operations conducted by the Syrian regime and its allied militias. Both the ISIS attacks and counter-insurgency operations spread across four governorates: Hama and Raqqa in the north, and Homs and Deir Ez Zor in the south.

(New York, N.Y.) – Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook executives deliberately “weakened or blocked”...

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. CEP researchers found that white supremacist accelerationists and neo-Nazis have been celebrating violence between Minneapolis police and protesters on several Telegram channels and chan imageboards. In addition, last week CEP researchers located a new website dedicated to glorifying and spreading the work of neo-Nazi James Mason.

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.