CEP
Analysis Update
Research Resources on
Combating Terrorism and Extremism
Extremist Content Online
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) has spotlighted the “worst
of the worst” propagandists and content with direct links to violence
that should be banned by all Internet and social media sites. These
individuals and publications pose a threat to public safety and
security, and must not be permitted to spread their hate online.
Extremism
Spotlight: Muslim Brotherhood Ideologue Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s Ties to
Extremist Individuals &
Organizations Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a
radical Islamist theologian living in Qatar, is the unofficial chief
ideologue of the Muslim Brotherhood. In Yusuf
al-Qaradawi’s Ties to Extremists, CEP documented 15 extremist
individuals and organizations with ties to Qaradawi. Through verified
accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as his personal
websites, Qaradawi releases his writings, speeches, and fatwas, which
have called for the murder of Americans, gay people, and Jews. He has
served as the chairman of numerous Islamic organizations and operated
on a variety of media platforms, including a televised broadcast on Al
Jazeera, which reached approximately 60 million viewers.
Extremism
Spotlight: Ahmad Musa Jibril’s Ties to
Extremists Ahmad
Musa Jibril is an Islamist preacher well-known for being an
influential jihadist voice in Syria and for having radicalized Khuram
Shazad Butt, one of three London Bridge attackers who killed eight
people and wounded almost 50 others on June 3, 2017. Despite Jibril’s
role in inciting horrific violence, YouTube shockingly
declared two years ago that Jibril’s videos did not violate the
company’s Terms of Service. Jibril’s lectures remain freely available
on Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms and his messages
continue to resonate with extremists and jihadists.
Extremism
Spotlight: Abdullah al-Faisal’s Ties to
Extremists Abdullah al-Faisal is a
U.S.-designated Islamist propagandist who has recruited for ISIS and
facilitated travel to ISIS-held territory. The Manhattan
District Attorney’s Office, in announcing his indictment, said
Faisal’s lectures, websites, and videos have incited “untold numbers
of people around the world to take up the cause of jihad.” In Abdullah
al-Faisal’s Ties to Extremists CEP has documented a total of
49 extremists linked to Abdullah al-Faisal. Of these, 25 are violent
extremists, 12 are successful or attempted foreign fighters, and 17
are propagandists.
Extremism
Spotlight: Siege’s Ties to
Extremists James Mason’s
neo-Nazi manifesto, Siege, which calls for a race war, has
inspired a generation of neo-Nazis since it was first published in
1992. The book sparked a violent online subculture called Siege
Culture, which is found across social media, podcasts, and chatrooms
dedicated to Mason’s book. CEP has documented 32 extremist entities—21
individuals and 11 organizations—with ties to Siege. Of these
21 individuals, nine have been involved in acts of violence, four have
been involved in specific murders, and four have been involved in
threats or acts of terrorism. On July 11, CEP reported
that copies of Audiobook uploads of the neo-Nazi
manifesto Siege seem to have been taken down by YouTube. The
apparent removal of these videos represents a policy reversal for
YouTube, which in February stated
that Siege videos did not violate its Terms of
Service.
Extremism
Spotlight: The Turner Diaries’ Ties to
Extremists For more than 40 years,
William Luther Pierce’s The Turner Diaries has served as a
“Handbook
for White Victory” for white nationalists around the world. The
book has directly inspired at least three terror attacks, including
the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, and has incited
white supremacists into committing other acts of violence. In The
Turner Diaries’ Ties to Extremists, CEP documents
the book’s role in the deaths of 248 individuals. On July 11, CEP reported
that copies of Audiobook uploads of The Turner Diaries seem
to have been taken down by YouTube.
Technology and Terrorism
Report
on Germany’s NetzDG Online Hate Speech Law Shows No Threat of
Over-Blocking In partnership with the Centre for
European Policy Studies, CEP issued a report analyzing the impact of
Germany’s Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG). NetzDG is an ambitious law
that can fine online platforms for failing to delete illegal content
and represents a crucial measure to help combat hate speech online. In
the report, Germany’s
NetzDG: A Key test for combatting online hate, researchers
debunked tech companies’ claims about NetzDG, finding that the law had
not in fact resulted in a flood of reports or over-blocking, and
researchers uncovered no further evidence of false positives. The
report was also launched at a CEP event held in Berlin, Germany: video.
Media coverage: EuroNews.
The
eGLYPH Web Crawler: ISIS Content on
YouTube CEP conducted a
study
that found that YouTube’s process for identifying and removing
terrorist content is failing, and the company is not fulfilling its
promise to take action against accounts that repeatedly violate their
Terms of Service. The study, which used eGLYPH and a web crawler to
search for video titles and keywords in videos uploaded to YouTube,
found that hundreds of ISIS propaganda videos have been uploaded to
the popular video sharing platform between March and June 2018,
gathering thousands of views—despite YouTube’s purported content
removal efforts. According to the report, the 1,348 ISIS videos
uploaded gathered 163,391 views. The study also found that 60 percent
of the accounts remained live on YouTube even after the videos had
been removed for content violations and 91 percent of all uploaded
videos were uploaded more than once. Media coverage: Scientific
American, Daily
Mail, The
Sun, Arab
Weekly, The
Hill.
CEP
Report Reveals How ISIS Supporters are Organizing on
Facebook Facebook claims it has
aggressively targeted terrorist content. The CEP report, Spiders
of the Caliphate: Mapping the Islamic State’s Global Support Network
on Facebook, lays out the shortcomings in Facebook’s
approach, revealing how ISIS supporters avoid detection by using
Facebook Live to host meetings and linking to banned material in
comments, tricks that avoid Facebook’s automated flagging tools. CEP
researchers found 1,000 pro-ISIS profiles on Facebook and six months
later, 57 percent of them were still on the platform. Even worse, the
report exposes how Facebook’s “recommended friends” feature helps
connect disparate groups of ISIS supporters across the globe. Media
coverage: Telegraph,
CBS
News, Vice
News, Gizmodo,
New
York Post.
CEP
German Language Report Calculates the Costs of
Extremism In the German
language report Die
Kosten des Extemismus (Costs of Extremism), CEP, in
partnership with the Brandenburg Institute for Society and Security
(BIGS), tackles the complex task of defining violent extremism and
evaluating its impact on society. Notably, the report establishes the
first of its kind economic model and mathematical formula for
calculating the true costs of violent extremist and terrorist
incidents, while providing new insights into how societal behavior and
decision-making is influenced far beyond that of the direct targets
and victims.
CEP
Study Finds YouTube Users 4x More Likely to Find Extremist Content
Than Counter-Narrative Material A CEP
study
found that extremist propaganda—including violent videos—is still
readily accessible on Google-owned YouTube, far exceeding
counter-narrative content. Between August 2 and August 3, 2018, CEP
reviewed 649 YouTube videos for extremist and counter-narrative
content, based on searches for six terms related to Islamic extremism.
CEP found a decrease in the number of counter-narrative videos on
YouTube since its assessment in April, indicating that Google has not
improved the performance of its Redirect Method Program. CEP found
only 9 videos (1.4% of the 649 videos checked) that may have included
counter-narrative messaging.
Islamist Extremism
Muslim
Brotherhood’s Ties to Extremists In
The
Muslim Brotherhood’s Ties to Extremists, CEP details the
Muslim Brotherhood’s connections to more than 40 extremists, including
terrorist groups, foreign fighters, and propagandists. The Brotherhood
officially maintains a platform of non-violence, but has supported
violent terrorism across the Middle East. “The Muslim Brotherhood has
trained terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and supported other terror organizations, such
as al-Qaeda, ISIS and Hamas,” said CEP CEO Ambassador Mark D.
Wallace.” CEP has produced individual reports on the Sunni Islamist
movement’s origins, history, violent activities, and government
designations in 18
countries.
Far-Right Extremism
White
Supremacy Groups in America Some
white supremacist groups in the United States such as the Aryan
Brotherhood promote blatant racism and violence. However, more
recently established organizations such as the League of the South and
Identity Evropa attempt to advance white nationalism as a legitimate
ideology that belongs in mainstream political and academic
discussions. CEP’s Guide
to White Supremacy Groups profiles some of the most virulent
white supremacist groups in the United States, demonstrating the
diversity of white supremacist rhetoric and tactics promoting the
rejection of non-white cultures.
CEP
Report on the European Far-Right Reveals Some Groups Eschew Violence
to Broaden Appeal More
than 70 years after the defeat of Nazi Germany, ethno-nationalist and
white supremacist movements in Europe continue to thrive. They include
far-right political parties, neo-Nazi movements, and apolitical
protest groups. In its report, European
Ethno-Nationalists and White Supremacy Groups, CEP found that
some groups openly espouse violent white supremacy, while others have
propagated their radical stances under the guise of populism, claiming
they are striving to protect average hardworking Europeans by
preserving their livelihoods and heritages from economic and cultural
threats posed by immigrants and ethnic minorities. Media coverage: Independent,
EU
Scream (interview begins at the 11-minute mark of the
broadcast).
Neo-Nazi
Groups Allowed to Stay on Facebook Because They ‘Do Not Violate
Community Standards’ In its
report, The
Extreme Right on Facebook, CEP documents Facebook’s failure
to remove white supremacist and neo-Nazi pages that clearly violate
its terms of service. CEP identified and monitored a small selection
of 40 Facebook pages belonging to online stores that sell white
supremacist clothing, music, or accessories, or white supremacist or
neo-Nazi groups. After a period of two months, CEP reported the pages
to Facebook and found that a mere four pages were removed. Media
coverage: Independent,
La
Repubblica
Rehabilitation/Reintegration and Prevention
Convicted
Jihadists Released from Prison Pose Pressing Challenge
In a CEP-sponsored report, When
Terrorists Come Home: The Need for Rehabilitating and Reintegrating
America’s Convicted Jihadists, Parallel Networks Co-Founders
Mitch Silber and Jesse Morton warn that during the next five years,
almost a quarter of U.S. terror convicts will complete their terms of
imprisonment and it is unlikely their recidivism rate will be
zero. Further, the United States has neither established a formal
rehabilitation and re-entry program for convicted terrorists nor
developed the infrastructure to support individuals upon their
release. Media coverage: Daily
News, Fox
News.
French
Handbook: Radicalization of Young People - Ways and Solutions for
Educators In November
2018, CEP launched a practical
handbook for French educators. Produced in collaboration with the
Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and
Radicalization (SG-CIPDR) and the European Foundation for Democracy,
the guide
aims to help educators detect and react appropriately to sensitive
situations without compromising their authority. France, like its
European neighbors, is confronted with the problem of youth
radicalization. Through its active engagement on this issue, CEP is
working to help French educators promote integration, while
recognizing the threat of radicalization. Media coverage: Le
Parisien, CNS
News, 20
Minutes.
Handbook
to Assist German Educators with Radicalization, Complex Cultural
Issues German teachers, especially in
areas with high immigrant populations, often struggle to understand
and properly respond to complex and sensitive cross-cultural and
religious issues, including recognizing the signs of radicalization.
CEP, in concert with the European Foundation for Democracy, produced a
German-language handbook, A
Practitioner’s Guide on Preventing Radicalisation in
Schools, presenting useful options for action, and
showing how educators can react to situations that are challenging in
professional, legal, or emotional terms.
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