(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. This week, CEP researchers
located a Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) podcast on Spreaker
spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and urging listeners to
help expel Jews from Scandinavia; there were 151 podcast episodes from
the group in total. Additionally, two ISIS Amaq News propaganda videos
were located on various platforms which showed combat in Nigeria and a
statement from a man claiming to have been an aide to the head of
Afghanistan’s intelligence service. CEP also located at least 30 white
supremacist or neo-Nazi Telegram channels commemorating the third
anniversary of 11-year-old Ebba Akerlund’s murder in the 2017
Stockholm truck attack. Finally, a neo-Nazi propaganda website
praising racist terrorists and mass shooters was found.
Nordic Resistance Movement Spreads
Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories On Spreaker
In a podcast released on April 8, two leaders of the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) alleged that
countries worldwide are influenced and controlled by a secret Jewish
conspiracy, and urged their listeners to support NRM and other
anti-Semitic groups, as well as to work to expel Jews from
Scandinavia. The podcast, titled “Leadership Perspective #5” features
the group’s leader Simon Lindberg and a member of the NRM’s leadership
circle, Fredrik Vejdeland, and was posted on the U.S. based podcasting
website Spreaker. In total, there were 151 NRM podcast episodes on
Spreaker on April 9, with titles such as “Corona Beard Babies,”
“Overreaching Jewish Anti-Whiteness,” and “Genocide Confirmed.
Alleging a massive secret Jewish conspiracy, Lindberg
and Vejdeland say Jews wish to “Take power from other races in the
world and give it to the Jews in an attempt for total world
domination.” Lindberg and Vejdeland also blame a Jewish conspiracy for
the immigration of non-whites to Europe and efforts to “destroy our
people.” The podcast concludes with the hosts stating that the
solution is to “get the masses to understand that many Jews are…racial
strangers with a goal of world domination.” After people realize this,
“we must banish the active subversive elements within society, regain
power over our countries,” and then “the Jews responsible must be
expelled to some place where they can live segregated from other
people and under supervision.”
The podcast was posted on the NRM website using the
podcasting platform Spreaker. Spreaker’s Terms of Service forbid users from using the
site to “defame, abuse, harass, use threatening practices, threaten or
violate the legal rights of others in any other way,” as well to use
the site to “disseminate or publish content that is unlawful, obscene,
illegitimate, defamatory or inappropriate.”
ISIS Amaq News Videos Found On Multiple
Websites
Two ISIS Amaq News Agency videos released the week of
April 4-10 were located on various websites. The first video, released
on April 5, shows combat between ISIS fighters and government security
forces in Borno, Nigeria. The video features Nigerian forces who have
been taken prisoner, and an execution. In addition to Telegram and
RocketChat, the video was released on at least 10 websites: Amazon
Cloud, File.fm, Tune.pk, Mail.ru, the Internet Archive, Dropbox,
Top4top, Mediafire, the Microsoft One Drive, and Mega.nz. Four days
later, the video was still available on at least four websites:
Mail.ru, the Internet Archive, Top4top, and Mediafire.
ISIS Amaq News video on
the Internet Archive, four days after it was uploaded
The second video, also released on April 5, is a
statement by a man identified as Colonel Ghulam Sakhi, who claims to
have been an aide to the head of Afghan intelligence. Colonel Sakhi
stated that he was taken prisoner by ISIS fighters in Kabul and that
he has been held prisoner for four months. The video was released one
day after Afghan officials announced that they arrested the head of ISIS in
Afghanistan, Abdullah Orakzai, a.k.a. Aslam Farooq. In addition to
Telegram and RocketChat, the video was uploaded to at least 12
websites: pc.cd, File.fm, Tune.pk, Yadi.sk, Mail.Ru, Mediafire,
Mega.nz, Amazon Cloud Drive, Top4top, Dropbox, the Microsoft One
Drive, and the Internet Archive. Four days later, in addition to
Telegram and RocketChat, the video was still available on at least
three websites: Mail.ru, Mediafire, and Top4top.
White Supremacist Telegram Channels Mark
Anniversary Of Ebba Åkerlund Murder
On April 7, at least 30 white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and
far-right Telegram channels marked the third anniversary of the death
of Ebba Åkerlund in the 2017 Stockholm truck attack. Two messages were
viewed over 12,000 times and over 7,900 times, respectively. Åkerlund
was 11 when she was killed in a vehicle attack by Rakhmat Akilov, who had sworn allegiance to
ISIS. In total, five people were killed, and 14 were injured. Akilov
was sentenced in June 2018 to a term of life in prison.
Brenton
Tarrant, who murdered 51 people and injured 40 others in a
terrorist attack on two mosques in March 2019 in Christchurch, New
Zealand, stated in his manifesto that he had wanted to "to take
revenge for Ebba Åkerlund." Tarrant also wrote her name on two of his
rifles. Several pieces of pro-Tarrant propaganda have praised him for
taking retribution on behalf of Åkerlund and white people, especially
white women.
Ebba Åkerlund’s mother, Jeanette Åkerlund, repeatedly
denounced the Christchurch attack stating that Ebba “Spread love and caring, not
hate.” And that she felt “the pain of the families affected by
(Christchurch).” Åkerlund told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that
“it's deeply tragic that Ebba's name is abused in the name of
political propaganda.”
Neo-Nazi Propaganda Website Located
CEP researchers located a neo-Nazi website belonging to
an artist and propagandist who has made posters for the Feuerkrieg
Division and the German branch of the Atomwaffen Division. Propaganda
on the website advocates for violence and praises racist terrorists
and mass shooters such as Brenton Tarrant, Dylann Roof, Robert Bowers, and John Earnest, as well as
Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and James Mason. The website uses Wix
as a name server and a registrar.
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