Swedish soldiers have deployed in a new European special forces mission
fighting extremists in Mali, French military sources said on Friday.

 

 


<[link removed]>
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Eye on Extremism


February 8, 2021

 

Agence France-Presse: Sweden Deploys Military To Battle Extremists In Mali
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“Swedish soldiers have deployed in a new European special forces mission
fighting extremists in Mali, French military sources said on Friday. “The first
operations have been carried out,” French military spokesman Frederic Barbry
said of the Swedes, adding that they would stay in Mali until the end of the
month. The Swedish parliament approved the deployment of up to 150 soldiers to
the so-called Takuba task force in June last year, with reinforcements of up to
100 others. The mandate expires on December 31 2021. Backed by three US-made
Black Hawk helicopters and a medical unit, the Swedes are being stationed in
the Liptako region, a volatile zone close to Mali’s border with Niger and
Burkina Faso. Several extremist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh in the
Greater Sahara (ISGS) reputedly operate in the area. The Swedish army,
questioned by AFP, confirmed that it “already has personnel in the sector.”
Their arrival is a boost for France, which has 5,100 troops stationed in Mali,
Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad as part of efforts to stabilize the arid and
poverty-wracked region. Paris has been urging its European partners to share
this burden. The Swedish contingent will be joining soldiers from Estonia and
the Czech Republic in the French-led elite force, whose goal is to train Malian
soldiers and operate alongide them.”

 

The New York Times: Biden Reverses Trump Terrorist Designation For Houthis In
Yemen
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“The State Department on Friday said it would lift a terrorist designation
against Houthi rebels in Yemen that the Trump administration had issued in its
final days, revoking penalties that aides to President Biden worried would
bring more pain to millions of starving people than to the rebels. Three
officials familiar with the decision said the Biden administration had notified
Democrats in Congress on Friday evening that it would scrap the designation,
which served as President Donald J. Trump’s final jab at the Houthis’ main
patron, Iran. Caught in widespread poverty and civil war, about 80 percent of
Yemen’s population of 30 million people live in areas under Houthi control. The
United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, said in November that Yemen
was “in imminent danger of the worst famine the world has seen for decades.”
Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, said in a statement
that removing the terrorist designation would “save lives.” “The designation
did not impact the Houthis in any practical way, but it stopped food and other
critical aid from being delivered inside Yemen and would have prevented
effective political negotiation,” Mr. Murphy said.”

 

United States

 

The New York Times: U.S. Will Examine Giving F.B.I. More Resources To Counter
Domestic Extremism
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“The Biden administration will examine if additional F.B.I. agents are needed
at the bureau’s field offices to address the threat of domestic violent
extremism, a senior administration official said on Friday. Last month, the
White House ordered a review of the threat of domestic violent extremism, led
by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. That assessment will
inform a policy review that will consider F.B.I. resources, additional
authorities, foreign influence operations and other questions. The senior
administration official said that the assessment and initial policy review
would take about 100 days. The official spoke on a conference call with
reporters on ground rules of anonymity to broach current policy discussions.
The issue of violent extremist groups in the United States has come to the top
of the agenda since a mob of far-right extremist organizations stormed the
Capitol on Jan. 6. The assault, which aimed to stop the counting of Electoral
College votes and halt the transition of power to the Biden administration, has
led to a string of federal charges against the rioters. Since the attack, there
have been a series of questions about the intelligence gathered before Jan. 6,
and whether the federal government was taking the threat of violence and
extremist groups seriously enough.”

 

Reuters: Biden's Homeland Security Czar Vows To Fight Domestic Terrorism
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“U.S. Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas, who last week became the
first Latino and immigrant to hold the post, on Saturday reaffirmed his resolve
to fight domestic terrorism, one of the greatest threats to the United States.
Mayorkas, who served as deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) under President Barack Obama, was sworn after the deadly Jan. 6 riot at
the U.S. Capitol by supporters of outgoing Republican President Donald Trump.
“To see the insurrection, to see the horrific acts of Jan. 6 were not only
personally devastating, but ... that created in me a commitment to redouble our
efforts to fight hate and to fight one of the greatest threats that we face
currently on our homeland, which is the threat of domestic terrorism,” Mayorkas
told CNN in an interview that aired Saturday evening. Mayorkas also said the
Biden administration was working with “due urgency” on efforts to end a
Trump-era policy known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which forced
more than 65,000 asylum seekers back to Mexico to wait for U.S. immigration
court hearings. “We are looking at that as recently as earlier today,” he said.
“The urgency of that also cannot be overstated.”

 

Syria

 

BBC News: IS Brutality Returning To Syrian Towns
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“The Islamic State (IS) group has launched more than 100 attacks in
north-eastern Syria over the last month alone and is terrorising many towns and
villages at night. The violence is concentrated in the largely desert province
of Deir al-Zour. Syrian researcher Ali (his real name, along with the name of
the non-governmental organisation he works for withheld for his own protection)
has been compiling statistics on the attacks. He says the violence is taking
many forms. “Beheadings, bombings, motorcycle suicide, assassination and
kidnappings - and we're just talking about a small area east of Deir al-Zour
city.” In one of these recent attacks, 40 people were killed when an IS sleeper
cell ambushed a bus. Ali says civilians are most vulnerable after sundown, when
IS fighters move into what's fast becoming a security vacuum. “At night they
are in fear [and] in the hands of IS fighters. They used to go to the
authorities [for protection] but nobody responds. They always say we don't have
enough arms to fight them, so they evacuate. After sunset all the soldiers
related to the SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces] leave the town.” Amira (not her
real name) has relatives in the SDF, a Kurdish-led force which spearheaded the
fight against IS in the region with the support of a US-led coalition, driving
it out of territory the jihadists had captured and controlled.”

 

Kurdistan 24: SDF Launches Anti-ISIS Campaign To Avenge Killed Female
Politicians
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“The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Friday announced they launched a new
operation in response to the killing of two female officials by Islamic State
two weeks ago. The SDF media center said in a statement that its fighters
launched a large-scale operation on Thursday from the town of Deir al-Zor to
the Iraqi border to avenge the deaths of two “revolutionary women” from the
autonomous administration in northeast Syria. Hind Latif al-Khadir, co-head of
the Tal al-Chayir council, and Economy Committee Co-head Sa’da Faysal al-Hermas
were kidnapped from their homes in Hasakah province and killed on January 23.
“Because of the increase of activity and attacks of Daesh (ISIS) in Deir
al-Zor, we launched on 4th of February [an operation] with the participation of
the Syrian Democratic Forces, People's Protection Units (YPG), Women’s
Protection Units (YPJ), and Internal Security Forces (ISF),” the statement
said. The official YPG account said Friday that the second day of operations
continued along the Iraqi border and Deir al-Zor desert.  “So far YPG and YPJ
Anti-Terror units and SDF CT (Counter-Terrorism) forces arrested more than a
dozen terrorists and confiscated ammunition belonging to the cells,” the YPG
said in a tweet that included a video of the operation.”

 

Iran

 

The National Interest: Iran: Still A State-Sponsor Of Terrorism, And Growing
Bolder
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“In his Senate confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken
affirmed his view of Iran as the largest state sponsor of terrorism, a
distinction long recognized by American administrations of both parties.
Indeed, Iran’s culpability in sowing sectarian chaos and conflict in its
fractured neighborhood was recently highlighted by its own terrorist proxies
and clients, from Hezbollah to Hamas. As a new administration seeks to make
diplomatic headway with Tehran, it must also grapple with the regime’s
relentless commitment to providing funds, weapons, and training to extremists
across the Middle East. Iran backs a diverse array of actors that use violence
to stoke instability, allowing Tehran to increase its own influence. As a
revisionist, revolutionary power, it maintains a stridently anti-Western and
anti-American mission. The regime undermines U.S. interests by challenging
freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf, threatening the sovereignty of
surrounding countries, and sponsoring terrorism both in the region and abroad.
It is also openly dedicated to the annihilation of Israel. “We will support and
assist any nation or any group anywhere who opposes and fights the Zionist
regime,” Iran’s supreme leader bluntly pledged last May.”

 

Iraq

 

Voice Of America: Kurds Warn Of Growing Islamic State Capabilities In Iraq
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“The recent killing of Islamic State’s top leader in Iraq should not be seen
as a crippling sign for the terror group, which has in recent months received
fresh recruits and increased its attacks in the country, says a senior Iraqi
Kurdish military official. U.S. officials have confirmed that a U.S.-led
coalition airstrike eliminated Jabbar Salman Ali Farhan al-Issawi, known as Abu
Yasser, last week near the Iraqi province of Kirkuk. Abu Yasser reportedly had
been leading the IS insurgency in Iraq since 2017. Despite Abu Yasser’s death,
Sarbast Lazgin, deputy minister of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces, says the
terror group has increased its activities while Baghdad and the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) have yet to come to an effective joint mechanism on
how to govern so-called disputed areas. Kirkuk is also considered part of the
disputed territories between Baghdad and the KRG. In a phone interview with
VOA, Lazgin said the jihadists are already exploiting a “security vacuum” in
those areas. ”I don’t want to say it will have no impact,” he said, referring
to Abu Yasser’s death. “But experience has shown groups that can indoctrinate
their members to a level where they are willing to blow themselves up, the
demise of one person will not change much. It may have a temporary impact, but
the group will soon find a new replacement.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Associated Press: Afghan Officials: Separate Blasts In Kabul Kill 3, Wound 4
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“Two separate explosions rocked the Afghan capital of Kabul on Saturday,
killing at least three people including members of the minority Sikh community
and wounding four others, Afghan officials said. The first explosion hit a
store in the heart of the capital, causing it to collapse and kill at least two
Sikhs, according to two Afghan police officials. They spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. No one
immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but the Islamic State group
has targeted Sikhs and other minority communities in Afghanistan. A nationwide
spike in bombings, targeted killings and violence on the battlefield comes as
peace negotiations in Qatar between the Taliban and the Afghan government have
stalled. Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said six people were wounded
in the blast in the store and no one was killed. He said police were
investigating what caused the explosion. The discrepancy between the two
numbers could not immediately be accounted for. In Saturday’s second explosion,
Faramarz said a sticky bomb was attached to a police car and went off in
northern Kabul, killing a police officer. Tensions in Afghanistan are high amid
a string of targeted killings.”

 

NBC News: Many Taliban Return To Afghanistan Front-Line Duty, As Biden Admin
Reviews U.S.-Taliban Deal
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“Taliban fighters have been called out of their traditional winter break from
fighting to front-line duty, three militant leaders tell NBC News, amid growing
concerns in their ranks that the Biden administration will not withdraw foreign
troops by an agreed May deadline. “Senior commanders and governors have been
directed to return to their positions and attend special sessions and
discussions to chalk out a future strategy,” a Taliban commander in Helmand
province said. He said there were “multiple issues” that the movement’s
leadership needed to address, including a “deadlock” in the peace talks with
the Afghan government and doubts about the future raised by the new
administration in Washington. Like other insurgents cited in this article, the
commander spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to
speak to the press. The comments come amid growing warnings about escalating
violence from local and foreign officials and experts, with President Joe Biden
— who assumed office just months before a deadline to withdraw all foreign
troops — weighing what to do next in America’s longest war. Going through with
the drawdown would end nearly 20 years of war for America in Afghanistan, but
risks emboldening the Taliban whose raison d’etre for decades has been to force
foreign soldiers from the country.”

 

Voice Of America: Taliban Kills 21 Afghan Troops, Warns Of 'Dangerous
Escalation' If US Breaches Deal
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“Taliban insurgents have killed at least 21 government troops in new attacks
in Afghanistan as U.S.-brokered peace talks between the two warring sides
remain stalled. The fighting comes as the United States is reviewing a February
2020 agreement with the Taliban, which required remaining American and allied
forces to leave Afghanistan by May of this year. An Afghan security officer
said Friday that a major pre-dawn Taliban raid targeted in an outpost in Khan
Abad district in northeastern Kunduz province. The officer, who spoke to VOA on
condition of anonymity, said the attack killed 16 security force members,
including their commander, and assailants also took two others hostage.
Separately, insurgents stormed an Afghan army outpost in northern Faryab
province Thursday night, killing five soldiers. The provincial governor told
local TOLO television channel the Taliban also took “some soldiers” hostage. 
The insurgent group has not immediately commented on either of the attacks,
which come amid increased hostilities in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Taliban
warned U.S. President Joe Biden's administration against abandoning the
February 29 deal between the two adversaries, saying leaving the agreement
“will lead to a dangerous escalation” in the Afghan war.”

 

Yemen

 

Al Monitor: Al-Qaeda’s Top Man In Yemen Captured Last Year, UN Reveals
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“The head of al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen, Khalid Batarfi, was captured in the
country’s eastern Mahra governorate in October, according to a new United
Nations report. The operation was reported to have taken place in the town of
al-Ghayda and led to the death of the local franchise’s second-in-command, Saad
Atef al-Awlaqi. The report did not say who conducted the operation. A
spokesperson for US Central Command credited Yemen’s armed forces with
capturing Batarfi, one of the highest-ranking al-Qaeda officials ever taken
alive. He was later turned over to Saudi Arabia, according to the UN report.
The jihadi leader’s detention follows a series of heavy blows to al-Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula in recent years. The group has suffered significant
defections and dissension and has largely been driven out of al-Bayda
governorate. Al-Khidr al-Walidi, the group’s top official in Abyan province,
was killed in an operation in November, the UN report noted. In October, SITE
Intelligence Group, which uses open-source materials to monitor terrorism,
cited unconfirmed reports of Batarfi’s capture by Yemeni security services.
Last week, an obviously prerecorded video of Batarfi was released. His capture
is a likely intelligence windfall for the United States and its regional
partners.”

 

Lebanon

 

Reuters: Activists In Beirut Protest Killing Of Hezbollah Critic Lokman Slim
<[link removed]>

 

“Around a hundred activists rallied in downtown Beirut on Saturday to protest
the killing of prominent Hezbollah critic Lokman Slim and to demand a
transparent investigation. Slim, a Shi’ite publisher in his late fifties, ran a
research centre, made documentaries with his wife and led efforts to build an
archive on Lebanon’s 1975-1990 sectarian civil war. He was a vocal critic of
what he described as armed group Hezbollah’s intimidation tactics and attempts
to monopolise Lebanese politics. He was shot dead and found in his car on
Thursday in south Lebanon - the first killing of a high-profile activist in
years. Slim had gone missing the night before. He had four bullets in his head
and one in his back. On Saturday morning Slim’s wife, Monika Borgmann, tweeted
for the first time since his death, sharing a two-word banner with a black
background that said “zero fear” in Arabic. The same two words appeared on a
banner at the protest where activists blamed the Iranian-backed Shi’ite
Hezbollah for the killing. “If Hezbollah is really innocent of this crime or
refuses it and condemns it, then they have to help the security apparatus and
Lebanese judicial authorities especially that Lokman Slim was killed in their
area of security influence,” said one of the protesters, Youssef Diab.”

 

Middle East

 

Reuters: Bahrain Says It Foiled 'Terrorist Plots' To Bomb Two Bank ATMs
<[link removed]>

 

“Bahrain security services foiled “terrorist plots” to bomb two ATMs belonging
to a national bank, the interior ministry said on Saturday. The bombs had been
placed at the locations at different times on Wednesday morning, the ministry
said in a statement, adding that a number of suspects had been arrested and the
case had been referred to public prosecutors. “The concerned security
authorities in cooperation with the National Security Agency foiled two
terrorist plots which aimed to blow up two ATMs belonging to one of the
national banks in the al-Naim and Jidhafs areas in the Capital Governorate,”
the statement said.”

 

Nigeria

 

Agence France-Presse: Nigeria Troops Overrun ISWAP Jihadist Camps In Northeast
<[link removed]>

 

“Nigerian troops backed by jets have taken control of several camps of
IS-linked jihadists, with two senior commanders escaping after several other
ranking militants were killed, two military sources told AFP Thursday. Troops
overran Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) camps in an area
straddling Yobe and Borno states in northeast Nigeria after a month-long
military operation, the sources said. The operations have been ongoing as
President Muhammadu Buhari replaced his four top military commanders after
months of pressure over his government’s failure to end the country’s more than
decade-long Islamist insurgency. On Wednesday, soldiers aided by fighter jets
overran Dole camp, the last jihadist stronghold in the so-called “Timbuktu
triangle,” the two military officers said. “With the fall of Dole the whole
area is now under the effective control of Nigerian troops,” said one of the
officers. The jihadists have been in control of the area since 2013 when they
seized it and established a strong presence, especially in the Talala area,
which became the second-largest ISWAP camp outside the group’s Lake Chad
stronghold. Last month troops took over Talala after a fierce battle in which
six soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosive-laden
vehicle among troops, military sources told AFP.”

 

Somalia

 

Voice Of America: Roadside Bomb Kills 12 Somali Soldiers
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“Twelve members of Somalia’s security forces were killed, and two others
wounded on Sunday following a powerful roadside explosion in the central state
of Galmudug, officials said. The attack occurred near the village of El Dhere,
28 kilometers west of Dhusamareb town, during a security operation, officials
said. Dhusamareb is about 510 kilometers north of the Somali capital,
Mogadishu. The chief of the intelligence agency in the town of Dhusamareb,
Major Abdirashid Abdinur Qoje, was among those killed, the state’s information
minister, Ahmed Shire Falagle, confirmed to VOA Somali. “A vehicle carrying the
officer, Qoje, and other soldiers accompanying him were hit by a landmine; the
officer and some of the soldiers died, so it was a bomb,” Falagle said. The
al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility. The attack marked the second
confrontation between al-Shabab and Somali government forces outside Dhusamareb
in the space of three days. On Friday, seven militants were killed by
government forces after mortars were fired into the town as political leaders
held a meeting on election management. The meeting in Dhusamareb collapsed in
the early hours of Saturday after President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and Prime
Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble failed to reach a deal on election management
with the leaders of five federal member states.” 

 

Africa

 

Reuters: Suspected Islamists Kill 10 In Eastern Congo Machete Attack
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“Suspected Islamists killed 10 people in a raid on a village in eastern
Democractic Republic of Congo and kidnapped several others, local authorities
and a witness said. The attack, in which assailants used machetes, occurred on
Friday night in the village of Mabule, around 25 km (16 miles) south east of
Beni, the sources said. “They killed 10 people here without any reason,” said
Muhindo Mbela, a survivor of the massacre. It was not yet clear who carried out
the attack, though local authorities blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF),
a Ugandan armed group active in eastern Congo since the 1990s. The group killed
around 850 people last year, according to U.N. figures. “They simply finished
off the victims with machetes,” said Mambo Kitambala from a local civil rights
group. Reprisal attacks against civilians increased sharply since the army
began an operation against the ADF in November 2019, dislodging it from several
bases in mountainous jungle near the Ugandan border. “We confirm the attack on
the village of Mabule by armed men we have identified as the ADF,” said Donat
Kibwana, the administrator of Beni territory.”

 

United Kingdom

 

BBC News: Man In Court Accused Of Sharing Of IS Beheading Videos
<[link removed]>

 

“A man from north London who moved to Syria has appeared in court accused of
sharing Islamic State group videos. Stefan Aristidou, 27 and originally from
Enfield, is accused of texting videos of beheading and executions. He was
arrested at Heathrow Airport after arriving on a flight from Turkey on
Wednesday. Mr Aristidou appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court after being
charged with seven counts of disseminating terrorist publications. The offences
relate to alleged activity in 2014 and 2015, before he travelled to Syria. Mr
Aristidou is accused of sending other people Islamic State group videos
depicting public executions and the beheading of a soldier. He is said to have
travelled to Syria from the UK in 2015 at a time when Islamic State controlled
a large amountof territory. The defendant indicated not guilty pleas to the
seven charges. He was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on 19
February.”

 

Europe

 

Associated Press: Norway Arrests Syrian Teenager On Terror Suspicion
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“Norway’s domestic security agency said Friday that a Syrian teenager has been
arrested in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, on suspicion of planning an act of
terror. The agency, known by its acronym PST, said the suspect, who was
arrested Thursday, was a boy aged 16. The Norwegian broadcaster NRK quoted PST
head Hans Sverre Sjoevold saying the youth was a Syrian national but declined
to say whether the attack was planned to take place in Norway. No details were
given as to when the attack was to be carried out. The VG newspaper, quoting
unnamed sources, said the suspect, who was not identified, has sympathies with
the Islamic State extremist group. He had arrived in Norway through a family
reunification scheme. On Twitter, PST said the boy was to appear before a court
in Oslo Friday for a custody hearing, adding the agency would request it to be
held behind closed doors. Also Friday, the Norwegian news agency NTB reported
that a 30-year-old Norwegian woman of Pakistani descent who was repatriated to
Norway last year from a northeastern Syria refugee camp, has been charged with
participation in extremist groups. The woman who was not identified, had
traveled to Syria in June 2013.”

 

Counter Terror Business: Far-Right Extremism In Europe And The United States
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“Historically, there has been little overlap between patterns of right-wing
terror in Europe and the United States. This, on its face, is not surprising.
The ideological roots of right-wing extremism differ significantly between the
two continents. The American far-right has long been composed of an uneasy mix
of white supremacists and neo-confederates with a disdain for federal
government. By contrast, right-wing extremists in Europe are animated more by
the historical remembrance of European fascist regimes and conspiratorial fears
of civilisational decline.. White supremacy is certainly an important element
of European far-right ideology, but it is distinctive from the American variant
in its tangible Nazi roots. Terrorist indexes for the past decade, however,
reflect a curious trend. Not only are the rates of right-wing extremist terror
rising sharply in both Europe and the US, but they are rising with startling
synchronicity. Authorities are beginning to see the writing on the wall. In
early February 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress that racially
motivated extremists are ‘the top threat we face from domestic violent
extremists’. The German Minister for Justice Christine Lambrecht also declared
last year that far-right terror ‘is the biggest threat to our democracy right
now’. Independent developments on both sides of the Atlantic have helped to
trigger the rise in far-right terror threats.”

 

Technology

 

USA Today: Crowdfunding Hate: How White Supremacists And Other Extremists
Raise Money From Legions Of Online Followers
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“A mysterious $500,000 Bitcoin transfer. Online stores selling sham
nutritional supplements and buckets of protein powder. Inane, live-streamed
video game sessions, full of dog whistles and racial slurs, fed by a steady
flow of cryptocurrency donations in the form of virtual lemons. Some of the
income streams exploited by America's extremist movements have come under
increased scrutiny after last month’s attack on the U.S. Capitol, for which
some far-right extremists fundraised online. Even as extremists are removed
from platforms that serve as reliable sources of followers and money, they find
new ways to wring financial support from an army of online haters. “A good
analogy is that for every five people who would buy a $20 T-shirt, there’s
probably 500 people who would pay a dollar or 50 cents to their favorite
streamer to hear them say the N-word or mock minorities online,” said Megan
Squire, a computer science professor at Elon University who has studied how
extremists fundraise online. “The numbers are substantially larger, both in the
number of people participating and the number of times they donate.”

 

The Washington Post: TheDonald’s Owner Speaks Out On Why He Finally Pulled
Plug On Hate-Filled Site
<[link removed]>

 

“Jody Williams knew things had gotten out of hand early last month, when a
post on the pro-Trump message board TheDonald included a detailed diagram of
how to tie a “hangman’s knot” on a noose. Williams was a moderator for the
board and owner of its Web address, so he removed the noose instructions. But
within an hour, he said, another moderator quietly restored it near the top of
the site …  Joshua Fisher-Birch of the Counter Extremism Project, a research
group, said TheDonald’s radicalization illustrated the push and pull between
online communities’ leaders and followers that can turn them into “hotbeds for
extremist content and networking.” Site moderators set the tone for what is
acceptable based on what they keep or remove. And followers incentivize certain
messages, memes and behaviors based on what they upvote, comment on or
celebrate. An anything-goes message board catering to an audience of anonymous
trolls and partisans is destined to push the boundaries of what is permissible,
fueling hate speech, sexism and white supremacy, he said. “It’s not like
someone wakes up one day and, all of a sudden, their site has become this
cesspool of hate speech and extremism,” Fisher-Birch said. But “a site that
doesn’t remove content that encourages violence is really just encouraging more
of the same content by those posters.”



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