Online extremism is a growing issue affecting more kids in a world where social media addiction is prevalent and real-world connections are often replaced by online interactions, according to the Counter Extremism Project [CEP]. Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler is the senior director at [CEP], an international nonprofit and non-partisan policy organization that researches and educates people about threats posed by extremist ideologies.

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed: "Online incitement to terror ‘is key’: Hans-Jakob Schindler"

"Hany Farid, senior adviser for the Counter Extremism Project and a computer-science professor at UC Berkeley, provided me with a different car analogy involving a landmark case that wrought reform in the auto industry. The first round of Ford Pinto cars on the market, those that came to define the ’70s with their muted earth tones and buggy headlights, were faultily designed: The gas tank was in the wrong place, cars were exploding if they were hit in just the right spot, and people were dying. 'And what the car company said is, "Okay, we have two options: We can either recall all these cars, fix the gas tanks, and send ’em back out. It’s gonna cost us X million dollars. Or we can just leave them as it is — let the people die, and we’ll settle the lawsuits. And that will cost us less,"' said Farid. 'So that’s what they did.'"

"'Harris’ arrest shows the international nature of the violent online extreme right, especially the subset of individuals who glorify attackers such as the Christchurch terrorist,' Joshua Fisher-Birch, an analyst on the far-right at the Counter-Extremism Project, told VICE News. 'While many of these individuals are concerned with committing attacks in their area, they are also part of this online community that seeks to encourage violence in other locations in the name of white supremacism.'

Fisher-Birch told VICE News there have been similar cases of online propagandists being arrested and charged for their work trying to inspire far-right extremists worldwide. For example, in November 2022, a Slovakian man was sentenced to six years for his involvement in terrorism and was, as Fisher-Birch puts it, 'an important player within the international neo-Nazi accelerationist online community and spread information helpful in committing terrorist attacks.' Neo-Nazi terror groups like The Base and Atomwaffen have had members belonging to cells located in North America, Europe, Scandinavia, and Australia.    

'The issue is that around the globe, there are individuals who subscribe to the same or similar conspiracy theories and ideologies and feel they have the same group of enemies and either want to take violent action against them or encourage or facilitate others to do so,' said Fisher-Birch."

CEP resource, "Terrorists on Telegram," referenced in report: "It is important to note, however, that Telegram has its own thriving online terrorist community."