House lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on Thursday interrogated the chief
executives of Google, Facebook and Twitter, escalating their calls for

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


March 26, 2021

 

The Washington Post: Big Tech CEOs Face Lawmakers In House Hearing On Social
Media’s Role In Extremism, Misinformation
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“House lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on Thursday interrogated the
chief executives of Google, Facebook and Twitter, escalating their calls for
swift regulation of the tech industry. During the more than five-hour hearing,
lawmakers in five-minute intervals called out executives on a wide range of
issues including extremism, misinformation, cyberbullying, climate change and
the coronavirus. Many of the politicians attempted to force the chief
executives to answer “yes” or “no,” cutting them off if they tried to explain
how “nuanced” those issues are. The display demonstrated just how deep the
desire in Washington goes to change how social media companies operate — while
also underlining the lack of consensus on how exactly to do that. Some
lawmakers proposed new legislation, while others called for reforming Section
230 of the Communications Decency Act, a decades-old law that shields tech
companies from lawsuits stemming from the content users post on their sites.
“The power of this technology is awesome and terrifying, and each of you has
failed to protect your users and the world from the worst consequences of your
creations,” said Rep. Mike Doyle (Pa.), the top Democrat on a House Energy and
Commerce panel focused on technology.”

 

Al Jazeera: Mozambique Military Launches Offensive After ISIL Attack
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“Fighting around the strategic Mozambique town of Palma entered a second day
on Thursday as ISIL-linked fighters occupied and ransacked it despite French
energy giant Total claiming it was secure. Mozambique’s government said the
town – in its northernmost province of Cabo Delgado and about 10km (6.2 miles)
from gas developments worth $60bn – came under a three-pronged attack on
Wednesday and security forces moved in to establish order. Bodies were visible
in the streets, some of them beheaded, and helicopter gunships exchanged fire
with the attackers, a security source told Reuters news agency. The attack came
shortly after French oil giant Total announced plans to resume construction at
the nearby site of a $20bn offshore gas project. Defence ministry spokesman
Omar Saranga said Mozambique’s security forces (SDS) were “pursuing the enemy’s
movement” and working “tirelessly to restore security and order”. “SDS will do
everything to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the population … while
continuing to guarantee the protection of economic projects,” he told reporters
in the capital Maputo. Saranga said the number of any casualties and the extent
of damage were not yet known, adding mobile communications in the area had been
“interrupted.”

 

United States

 

NBC News: DHS Weighing Major Changes To Fight Domestic Violent Extremism, Say
Officials
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“The Department of Homeland Security, which was created after the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks to protect the country from international terrorism, is moving
toward a sweeping set of policy changes to detect and stop what intelligence
officials say is now a top threat: domestic violent extremism. Two senior Biden
administration officials said DHS, whose intelligence division did not publish
a warning of potential violence before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, is seeking to
improve its ability to collect and analyze data about domestic terrorism —
including the sorts of public social media posts that threatened an attack on
the U.S. Capitol but were not deemed “actionable” by the FBI and other law
enforcement agencies. DHS plans to expand its relationships with companies that
scour public data for intelligence, one of the senior officials said, as well
as to better harness the vast trove of data it already collects about
Americans, including travel and commercial data through Customs and Border
Protection, or CBP, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, the Coast
Guard, the Secret Service and other DHS components. The department is also
contemplating changes to its terrorist watch listing process “to see if there
are ways we can leverage it to take into account international and domestic
travel of known violent extremists,” the senior official said.”

 

Agence France-Presse: US Heading Anti-Jihadist Intelligence Sharing Operation
— Report
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“Some 30 countries have been sharing intelligence about jihadist terror
organizations at a secret site with the aim of facilitating prosecutions,
French newspaper Le Monde reports online. The “Gallant Phoenix” project,
created in 2016, is being headed by the United States and located at a US Army
base in Jordan, the daily says. It seeks to collect and centralize traces left
online by terrorists, remnants from jihadist actions anywhere in the world and
even the personal belongings of Islamists seized after arrest, all to help
prosecutions and provide evidence at trials. The main contributors to the
sharing effort are the Iraqi army, Kurdish forces, NATO allies and the members
of the international military coalition against the Islamic State group. Le
Monde says military intelligence units are always eager to collect and evaluate
objects left behind by enemy combatants, but “‘Gallant Phoenix’ gives this
collection of evidence a framework and a system.” Some 700 documents relating
to 500 jihadists have been handed over by Phoenix to ongoing investigations
into acts of terror, the report says.”

 

Vice: U.S. Man Deported From Ukraine Was Marine Dropout Linked To Neo-Nazi
Terror Group
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“In October 2020, Ukrainian intelligence released a video of what it claimed
was two American men in baseball caps carrying camouflage-patterned duffle bags
as an agent escorted them to the baggage counter at the Kyiv airport. The video
was likely choreographed by the authorities: Ukraine’s security services
alleged the Americans were members of a violent U.S.-based hate group and among
a growing number of men from around the world trying to fight illegally in the
still-raging war in the country’s eastern Donbass region against Kremlin-backed
separatists. But as quickly as they made headlines in the U.S. and in Ukraine,
the men disappeared and neither was ever identified publicly—until now. VICE
World News has learned that Ryan Burchfield, 21, is one of the men in the
video. Burchfield is a Virginia native, a Marine Corps dropout, and a former
member of the Base, one of the most violent American-born terror groups in
recent decades, and one under the ongoing specter of an FBI counterterrorism
probe.”

 

Syria

 

Agence France-Presse: Slow Recovery In Syria's Baghouz Two Years After IS
Defeat
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“Two years after the Islamic State group was said to have been defeated in her
Syrian village, Dalal Khaled looked on as construction workers scooped up
cement to finish the home her late husband had started building. Dalal's
husband was killed in a landmine explosion only months before Kurdish fighters
and the US-led coalition declared the collapse of the jihadists' proto-state,
known as the caliphate, in March 2019. In the east Syria village of Baghouz,
where IS fighters made their last stand, Dalal watched labourers this week pile
cinderblocks and pour cement on a wall she said her husband should have built
himself. “I wish my husband was by my side,” the mother of seven told AFP. “If
he hadn't died, we could have built this house together and started a fresh
life,” she added, only her eyes showing behind a blue face veil. “But the war
has denied me this wish.” The embattled village of Baghouz on the banks of the
Euphrates River was the last vestige of the cross-border proto-state IS
declared in 2014 across large swaths of Iraq and Syria. When fighting there
between the US-backed SDF forces and jihadists intensified, Dalal and her seven
children fled the area and settled in the neighbouring town of Sousa, about 25
kilometres (15 miles) away.”

 

Kurdistan 24: ISIS Kills 15 Residents Of Syria’s Sprawling Al-Hol Displacement
Camp In March: SDF
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“The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Wednesday announced that 15 residents
of the notorious al-Hol displacement camp the group runs in northeastern Syria
were killed in the month of March, including three women. “These crimes
threaten the lives of innocent refugees who bear the consequences of this toxic
ideology,” the SDF's Coordination and Military Operations Center wrote in a
Twitter post. Last week, the Kurdish-led forces arrested 10 people in a new
operation in al-Hol, which has seen an uptick in violence over the past few
months, as “a step to control the security of the camp” where dozens of people
have been killed since January. The operation was a response to the recent
killing of two Iraqi refugees. Since January, security has markedly
deteriorated in al-Hol, the largest camp in Syria for refugees and internally
displaced people. On Jan. 8, a member of the Internal Security Forces (Asayish)
was killed during a reported clash with an Islamic State cell within the camp.
Earlier this month, a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staff member was killed and
three others injured, forcing the charity to suspend services at the sprawling
facility. According to the United Nations, there are about 62,000 people still
in the camp, including tens of thousands of women affiliated to Islamic State,
along with their children.”

 

Iraq

 

Stars And Stripes: Airstrikes ‘Pummel’ ISIS In Iraq As US Prepares For Talks
With Baghdad
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“The U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State has conducted more
airstrikes in Iraq this month than it did all of last year, destroying scores
of enemy positions and killing dozens of terrorists. Coalition jets carried out
over 150 strikes against ISIS fighters in the mountains south of Mosul this
month, U.S. and Iraqi military officials said earlier this week. An analysis of
previous coalition strike data shows fewer than 120 airstrikes were carried out
against ISIS in Iraq all of last year. Including Iraqi air force and army
aviation operations, a total of 312 airstrikes have destroyed 120 enemy
positions and killed 27 terrorists, Col. Wayne Marotto, a spokesman for the
military coalition, said in a tweet Wednesday. “The mission was to destroy
Daesh hiding out in some tough terrain of caves and tunnels, ostensibly the
last redoubt of the so-called caliphate,” Marotto said in an email, using an
Arabic term for ISIS. The new data were released ahead of the latest round of
talks between Baghdad and Washington about continued cooperation. “The meetings
will further clarify that coalition forces are in Iraq at the invitation of the
Iraqi government and solely for the purpose of training and advising Iraqi
forces to ensure that ISIS cannot reconstitute,” White House press secretary
Jen Psaki said at a briefing Wednesday. “We are committed, first and foremost,
to Iraqi sovereignty.”

 

Turkey

 

Daily Sabah: Security Forces Destroy 29 Terrorist Hideouts In Eastern Turkey
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“Turkish security forces have destroyed 29 terrorist hideouts during an
operation in eastern Turkey. In Operation Eren-7 Mercan Munzur, 59 security
teams composed of 1,062 personnel raided hideouts in Tunceli province,
according to the governor's office. Since early January, security units backed
by helicopters have been searching the snow-covered mountainous region. The
hideouts were found along with a large cache of ammunition and survival gears
in the operation that is still ongoing. Although the governor's office did not
specify any terror groups in the statement, the PKK is known to hold activities
in the region. In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK
– listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU – has been
responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and
infants.”

 

Daily Sabah: Turkey Arrests 2 Foreign Nationals For Links To Terrorist Groups
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“Police arrested two foreign nationals in central Turkey over their alleged
links to terrorist groups, security sources said Thursday. The suspects – both
Syrian nationals – were arrested in Nevşehir province when police raided two
addresses, said security sources who asked not to be named due to restrictions
on speaking to the media. The raids come after police found that the suspect,
only known by the initials A.E.V., had worked for several branches of the PKK
terrorist group, including the YPG, KCK and YPD, and the other suspect, only
known by the initials M.M.A.M, allegedly belonged to the Daesh terrorist group.
The YPG and its political wing, the PYD, are the Syrian offshoots of the PKK.
The KCK serves as an umbrella body of the PKK and its Syrian and Iranian
offshoots. Various digital materials and a blank firing gun were also seized
during the operation. The terror suspects were handed over to authorities to be
deported. In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK –
listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – has been
responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children
and infants. In its fight against Daesh, Turkey became one of the first
countries to declare it a terrorist group in 2013.”

 

Afghanistan

 

The Hill: Top General: Afghan Forces Need US Troops To Fight Taliban
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“Support from U.S. troops is “critical” to Afghan forces’ ability to fight the
Taliban and other militants, a top general said Thursday. Testifying before the
Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. Robert Clarke, commander of U.S. Special
Operations Command, noted he recently met with his Afghan counterpart and found
that “progress has been made” and that his counterpart is a “very dedicated
commander.” But, Clarke added, “I think the capabilities that the U.S. provides
for the Afghans to be able to combat the Taliban and other threats that reside
in Afghanistan are critical to their success.” The assessment that Afghan
forces still need U.S. military support after two decades of war comes as
President Biden is deciding whether to adhere to a May 1 deadline to withdraw
all U.S. troops that was set in a deal with the Taliban signed by the Trump
administration last year. Biden and other officials have not explicitly said
troops will stay past May, but they have increasingly hinted that will be the
case. “It’s going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline,” Biden said at a news
conference Thursday afternoon, citing the logistics of withdrawing with just a
little more than a month until the deadline. “If we leave, we’re going to do so
in a safe and orderly way.”

 

Saudi Arabia

 

Arab News: Arab Interior Ministers Approve Expert Group To Monitor Terrorist
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“Arab interior ministers approved the establishment of a group of experts to
monitor, analyze and exchange information on terrorist threats, as tensions in
the region continue to pose a security risk. Interior Minister Prince Abdul
Aziz bin Saud bin Naif led the Saudi Arabia delegation at the 38th session of
the Council of Arab Interior Ministers, which concluded on Thursday in the
Tunisian capital, Tunis.  During the virtual meeting, the ministers also
approved a guiding mechanism to prevent terrorist fighters from moving into
conflict areas and flashpoints in the Arab region. They agreed on new measures
for dealing with their returnees and also established a permanent committee for
criminal statistics within the council’s general secretariat. Prince Abdul Aziz
said despite the slowdown caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the
council has made several other gains, including strengthening cooperation with
regional and international organizations to serve the security authorities in
Arab countries. “What is being achieved successfully by our security
institutions in facing the global and local challenges and changes surrounding
our Arab security, has contributed to strengthening the relationship between
the security services and citizens,” he said.”

 

Africa

 

Associated Press: Morocco: Four Arrested For Links To Alleged ISIS Attack Plot
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“Special agents in eastern Morocco on Thursday arrested four suspected Islamic
State-linked extremists who were allegedly assigned to attack a military base
and other sensitive targets, the official Moroccan news agency MAP reported.
U.S. intelligence services worked closely with counterparts in the North
African kingdom to dismantle the cell in Oujda, on the border with Algeria, MAP
quoted a statement from Morocco's Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations as
saying. Four people ages 24-28 were arrested in separate neighborhoods in
Oujda. One man was found on the roof of his home, trying to flee, according to
MAP's account. The agents seized large sums of money in European currencies and
the passports of the four suspects. Authorities said the four initially planned
to travel to the Sahel to join fighting there. Branches of the Islamic State
group and al-Qaida are active in the Sahel, but it was not clear whether the
alleged Islamic State ties of the arrested individuals referred to a Sahel
connection. Morocco's Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations alleged an ISIS
leader instructed them to carry out attacks in Morocco instead of traveling to
the Sahel.”

 

Agence France-Presse: 17 Dead In East DR Congo Attacks Blamed On ADF Militia
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“At least 17 people have been killed in separate attacks by the notorious ADF
militia in the restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), local
officials said on Wednesday. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) — the bloodiest
of more than 120 armed groups that roam eastern DRC — on Tuesday attacked the
villages of Samboko, Tchani-Tchani and Kapoka, said Donat Kibwana, the local
territorial administrator. “Twelve people were knifed to death and others were
forcibly abducted,” said Kibwana, in charge of Beni Territory in North Kivu
province. Mathe Kwirathwiwe, a local civil representative in Samboko, gave a
death toll of 15, including a soldier who was part of a counter-attack that led
to the release of 10 hostages. The three villages are located in an enclave
called Beni-Mbau, in the far north of North Kivu, on the border with Ituri
province. Five civilians, including two drivers and their passengers, were
killed in another attack on Wednesday on the Kasindi road that leads to the
Ugandan border, local officials said. Two vehicles caught in the ambush were
burned, Kambala Bashinde, the chairman of the local drivers association told
AFP. Local administrator of the territory Donat Kibwana confirmed the attack,
attributing it to “ADF attackers.”

 

Africanews: At Least 11 Killed In Niger Attacks And Classrooms Set On Fire
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“At least 11 people have been killed in three separate jihadist attacks in the
western Tillaberi region that is close to Mali, local officials said. The
militants arrived in the villages on motorbikes on Wednesday and set classrooms
on fire, looted a health centre and stole livestock. The attackers “surrounded
the villages” and those who sought to flee were chased and killed, according to
the official who wished to remain anonymous. The violent incidents occurred in
the villages of Zibane-Koira Zeno, Zibane Koira-Tégui and Gadabo, which are in
close proximity to each other. The insurgencies in West Africa's Sahel has
killed hundreds and nearly half a million people have fled their homes. In May
2020, twenty people were killed in these same three villages, during attacks
carried out by heavily armed men who came on motorcycles and who then fled
towards Mali, according to the authorities. Attacks against civilians have
increased since the start of the year in Niger: more than 300 people have been
killed in three series of attacks against villages and camps in the west of the
country, bordering Mali. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The latest large-scale attack was on Sunday in the Tahoua region, killing 137
people in a few hours in three villages.”

 

United Kingdom

 

BBC News: Wednesbury Teenager Denies 20 Terror-Related Charges
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“A teenager has pleaded not guilty to 20 terror-related charges. Nuh Raheel
denied 10 counts of possession of an article for terrorist purposes, relating
to documents including one named 39 Ways To Serve And Participate In Jihad.
Appearing via video-link at Birmingham Crown Court, Mr Raheel, 19, also denied
10 charges of collecting terrorist information. All 20 offences are alleged to
have happened on or before 13 October. The defendant, of Knowles Street,
Wednesbury, was remanded into custody and is due to go on trial for the
offences on 7 June.”

 

Germany

 

Asharq Al-Awsat: Germany Arrests Woman Accused Of Joining ISIS
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“A German woman accused of taking her son to ISIS-controlled territory in
Syria and fighting for the extremist group there was arrested Wednesday after
landing in Berlin. Prosecutors said that the suspect joined the terrorist group
after her arrival and, together with her husband, decided to have her son —
aged under 15 at the time — get firearms training at a training camp run by the
group. The son was killed in an air raid in March 2018, according to the
statement. Stefanie A. and her husband were later arrested. She is suspected of
membership in a foreign terrorist organization, violating her duty of care, and
a war crime, prosecutors said. She also at some point became an ISIS militant,
they said. Stefanie will appear before the investigating judge on Thursday and
the decision of whether or not she will be held in police custody will be
taken.”

 

Australia

 

ABC News Australia: The Base Tapes
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“…Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher with the US-based Counter Extremism
Project, says these training camps enable recruits with military experience to
train others, adding to their threat. “This very extreme neo-Nazi ideology, the
way that they organised and kind of passed these skills onto one another, made
them very dangerous,” he says. On the call, AdvocateCannibalism says he can
help The Base with a place for weapons training through his contact in another
right-wing group. “Basically, he’s into guns. He’s got property we can train
on. He’s right into street fighting, that sort of thing.” Aware The Base is
looking for recruits interested in the prepper lifestyle, AdvocateCannibalism
says he’s got “several bugout bags”, hunting gear and “plate carriers” — vests
which can be converted to tactical body armour. “What I would like to see is
basically a group of networked survivalists across the country with access to
firearms, legal access to firearms, so there’s no questions asked by the
alphabets,” he says, referring to law enforcement and security agencies like
the AFP and ASIO. Volkskrieger is impressed and discusses a plan to meet up
again in Perth.”

 

Europe

 

Deutsche Welle: Rights Groups Slam EU Online Terrorist Content Law
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“A potential EU law that would force Google, Facebook and Twitter to remove
terrorist content within an hour is being seen as a risk to fundamental rights,
according to 61 civil rights groups. “We urge the European Parliament to reject
this proposal, as it poses serious threats to freedom of expression and
opinion,” the groups stated in a letter sent to members of European
Parliament.  The civil rights groups include Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International, Civil Liberties Union for Europe and the European Federation of
Journalists. After a series of attacks in 2018 by radicalized lone wolf
attackers, with online terrorist content seen as a contributing factor, the
European Commission drafted the legislation to be voted on next month. “The
spread of radical ideologies and of terrorist guidance material accelerates
through the use of online propaganda, with the use of social media often
becoming an integral part of the attack itself,” the European Commision said in
its Counter-Terrorism Agenda in December last year. “Regulation on addressing
the dissemination of terrorist content online would allow Member States to
ensure the swift removal of such content,” it added.  The Commission defines
online terrorist content as material inciting terrorism or aimed at recruiting
or training terrorists.”

 

Technology

 

The New York Times: On Google Podcasts, A Buffet Of Hate
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“He had already been banned from Twitter, but on his podcast he could give
full voice to his hateful conspiracy theories. The podcaster argued that the
man in Atlanta who had confessed to killing eight people at massage parlors
last week, including six women of Asian descent, was the one who had truly been
victimized — the casualty of a supposed Jewish plot. “Your heart goes out to
the guy,” he said. The remarks, emblematic of a longstanding online network of
white supremacists and pro-Nazi groups, weren’t hidden in some dark corner of
the internet, but could be found on Google Podcasts, the search giant’s
official podcast app that was released for Android in 2018 and expanded to
Apple devices last year. As leading social networks like Facebook and Twitter
have taken some steps to limit hate speech, misinformation and incitements to
violence in recent months, podcasts — historically fueled by a spirit of
good-natured anarchy — stand as one of the last remaining platforms for the
de-platformed. After Twitter last November suspended the account of Steve
Bannon, the onetime adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, for suggesting
that several officials be beheaded, he continued to enjoy large audiences with
his podcast, available on both Apple and Google’s services.”



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