Terrorist use of the
analyst-led verification, the TCAP collects this content in real time and archives it. Since its inception, the TCAP has identified over 30,000 unique URLs containing terrorist content, and has sent more than 18,000 alerts to 71 tech platforms. The TCAP provides tech companies with the clarity required to identify and action illegal content.
internet is diversifying
contain their influence. These platforms – which range from file sharing sites to messaging applications and video hosting services – are often in their relative infancy. As such, the teams maintaining them are significantly smaller than large-scale platforms and services, and often do not have sufficient resources or expertise to develop or implement effective counterterrorism policies that stay abreast of the evolving threat landscape.
Tech Against Terrorism has observed shifts in how terrorists and violent extremists abuse internet-based platforms. This is likely driven in large part by increasingly effective moderation efforts from large-scale social media platforms.
One example is an increased abuse of smaller platforms powered by the decentralised web (DWeb). DWeb platforms are built with autonomy, privacy, and security in mind, and are heralded by many as the future of the internet. Terrorists and violent extremists have observed this too, and are becoming increasingly capable at abusing emerging DWeb platforms.
For example, Tech Against Terrorism has identified an emerging trend in which Islamist terrorist actors are using decentralised file and video sharing applications to spread propaganda. These applications are open- source, and are designed to be built into websites; website owners are therefore handed responsibility of moderating what is shared on their site. Many of these smaller sites have not yet developed effective methods to identify and moderate terrorist and violent extremist content, leaving them as attractive targets for abuse.
Using platforms for their features
Terrorist and violent extremist actors seek to use online services that provide the best combination of easy usability, content stability,
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wide audience reach, and security. Terrorist and violent extremists typically balance these features when choosing which platforms to operate on, and sometimes favour a particular feature over others, depending on use case.
For example, platforms that enable wide audience reach are likely to be used for propaganda sharing, whereas end-to-end encrypted messaging apps are more likely to be used for private communications.
Providing solutions
Terrorist and violent extremist users remain on platforms until they deem it to be unsafe, or are forced away. It is in the wake of effective, persistent, and ongoing takedowns that new services are likely to be targeted. This does not mean that larger platforms can relax their efforts – moderation must remain persistent and innovative in order to prevent further abuse, because terrorist and violent extremist actors consistently develop methods to circumvent content moderation techniques. At the same time, newer, smaller platforms must apply the same rigour and intensity to their own moderation practices. Tech Against Terrorism supports platforms with this.
Working closely with the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), Tech Against Terrorism provides smaller platforms with bespoke support as part of its mentorship programme, alongside practical guidance and operational support, including the development of technical solutions to target terrorist use of the internet at scale.
The Terrorist Content Analytics Platform (TCAP) is a transparent and secure tool developed by Tech Against Terrorism with support from Public Safety Canada that alerts platforms to content produced by designated violent far-right and violent Islamist entities. Using a hybrid of automated processes and
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The TCAP was instrumental in Tech Against Terrorism’s response to the livestreamed attack in Buffalo, New York on 14 May 2022. Since the attack, we have alerted more than 25 tech companies about more than 120 unique URLs containing copies of the livestream and manifesto. Tech Against Terrorism continues to alert companies to copies of the material, many versions of which have been modified from the original in likely attempts to avoid automated detection.
Tech Against Terrorism also aids companies, academics, and researchers through its Knowledge Sharing Platform (KSP). The KSP provides users with a broad range of tools and information designed to support informed and proportionate counter-terrorism responses. In- depth research and analysis is supplanted with policy recommendations and guidance for best practices. A combination of these tools, alongside expert policy guidance and open- source intelligence capabilities, provides tech companies with a suite of solutions and tools to counter an increasingly diversified terrorist use of the internet while respecting human rights.
So what?
Effective prevention of terrorist and violent extremist use of the internet requires a proactive approach. This involves comprehensive policies, cross-industry collaboration, a developed set of mechanisms to aid moderation, and crucially, an understanding of how terrorists and violent extremists abuse internet-based services.
Rory Donovan Open-source Intelligence Analyst Tech Against Terrorism
www.techagainstterrorism.org
Tech Against Terrorism is a public-private initiative launched and supported by the United Nations Counter Terrorism and Executive Directorate (UNCTED). As a partner of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), Tech Against Terrorism provides tech companies with guidance and expertise in developing comprehensive and actionable policies that help tackle terrorist and violent extremist abuse of their platforms whilst respecting human rights.
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