(New York, N.Y.) — The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) reports weekly on the methods used by extremists and terrorist groups on the Internet to spread propaganda and incite violence. Last week, CEP located 33 posts on X posted by 18 accounts that promoted acts of violence targeting Muslims and Jews or spread propaganda from neo-Nazi accelerationist groups such as the Atomwaffen Division or the Base. Twelve posts included uploads of clips of violent footage from the Christchurch or Buffalo terrorist attack videos.
Online ISIS supporters celebrated the August 23 Solingen knife attack on Telegram and RocketChat, noting with approval that Germany was targeted. CEP researchers also located issue 38 of the ISIS-K-linked web magazine Voice of Khorasan. The August 18 edition encouraged attacks on Shiites, condemned the Taliban for protecting Shiites and taxing drug traffickers, and encouraged traveling to Afghanistan to join ISIS-K. Online ISIS supporters also shared designs for a 3-D printed firearm on RocketChat.
A Swedish Active Club-linked Telegram channel promoted a September 28 fight night event, promising networking and “gala-like elements.”
Finally, the administrator of a Telegram channel that spreads a pro-Nazi, Holocaust denial propaganda video praised the Internet entrepreneur and former hacker Kim Dotcom for posting quotes from the notorious antisemitic text The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion on X.
Posts on X Encourage Violence Against Muslims and Jews, Promote Neo-Nazi Groups and White Supremacist Terrorists
In a sample of content located on X on August 21, CEP researchers located almost three dozen posts from 18 accounts that encouraged acts of violence against Muslims and Jews, promoted accelerationist neo-Nazi groups, or glorified white supremacist terrorists, including posting footage from the Christchurch or Buffalo attack videos.
Posts included a drawing of the March 15, 2019, Christchurch attacker with accompanying text urging the viewer to “make it more than 51,” referring to the number of Muslims murdered at two mosques. The post had over 2,000 views 72 days after it was posted. A post by another account posted an image of a hand decorated with a swastika pulling a plant with a Jewish star out of the ground with the text “kill it at the root.” The post had almost 1,200 views after being on X for 48 hours. Another post, allegedly made by a British white supremacist, called for a “race war now” on August 4 and had over 2,500 views by August 22.
Additional content included four different uploads of Atomwaffen Division (AWD) propaganda videos, two clips from a Terrorgram video glorifying white supremacist murderers, a video and photos promoting the Base, and an account promoting the neo-Nazi satanic group the Order of Nine Angles.
CEP reported the posts to X on August 21 for violating the social media site’s policies on violent speech and violent and hateful entities. Four accounts were removed by August 26. The accounts that were removed promoted violence against Jews, posted support for the Order of Nine Angles, glorified the white supremacist murderer James Fields, and posted a violent graphic video. Seventeen accounts were still accessible on X on August 26, including content promoting violence against Muslims, advocating a race war, and content promoting AWD and the Base.
In addition to the above content, CEP located ten videos on X that included violent footage from the Christchurch attack video, one video that included violent footage from the May 2022 Buffalo attack video, and one video that included footage from both attacks. The videos were on the platform for between two and 99 days when found on August 21, averaging 18.5 days on X. View counts for the tweets ranged between 39 and 2,283, averaging 750 per tweet. In some cases, posts often included the promotion of violence against Muslims and dehumanizing language. CEP reported the posts to relevant national authorities on August 21.
