https://www.reuters.com/technology/excl ... 2021-07-26
Facebook and tech giants to target attacker manifestos, far-right militias in database
By Elizabeth Culliford
July 26 (Reuters) - A counterterrorism organization formed by some of the biggest U.S. tech companies including Facebook (FB.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) is significantly expanding the types of extremist content shared between firms in a key database, aiming to crack down on material from white supremacists and far-right militias, the group told Reuters.
Until now, the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism's (GIFCT) database has focused on videos and images from terrorist groups on a United Nations list and so has largely consisted of content from Islamist extremist organizations such as Islamic State, al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Over the next few months, the group will add attacker manifestos - often shared by sympathizers after white supremacist violence - and other publications and links flagged by U.N. initiative Tech Against Terrorism. It will use lists from intelligence-sharing group Five Eyes, adding URLs and PDFs from more groups, including the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters and neo-Nazis.
The firms, which include Twitter (TWTR.N) and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) YouTube, share "hashes," unique numerical representations of original pieces of content that have been removed from their services. Other platforms use these to identify the same content on their own sites in order to review or remove it.
While the project reduces the amount of extremist content on mainstream platforms, groups can still post violent images and rhetoric on many other sites and parts of the internet.
The tech group wants to combat a wider range of threats, said GIFCT's Executive Director Nicholas Rasmussen in an interview with Reuters.
"Anyone looking at the terrorism or extremism landscape has to appreciate that there are other parts... that are demanding attention right now," Rasmussen said, citing the threats of far-right or racially motivated violent extremism.
The tech platforms have long been criticized for failing to police violent extremist content, though they also face concerns over censorship. The issue of domestic extremism, including white supremacy and militia groups, took on renewed urgency following the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Fourteen companies can access the GIFCT database, including Reddit, Snapchat-owner Snap (SNAP.N), Facebook-owned Instagram, Verizon (VZ.N) Media, Microsoft's LinkedIn and file-sharing service Dropbox (DBX.O).
GIFCT, which is now an independent organization, was created in 2017 under pressure from U.S. and European governments after a series of deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels. Its database mostly contains digital fingerprints of videos and images related to groups on the U.N. Security Council's consolidated sanctions list and a few specific live-streamed attacks, such as the 2019 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand.
GIFCT has faced criticism and concerns from some human and digital rights groups over centralized or over-broad censorship.
"Over-achievement in this takes you in the direction of violating someone's rights on the internet to engage in free expression," said Rasmussen.
Emma Llanso, director of Free Expression at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said in a statement: "This expansion of the GIFCT hash database only intensifies the need for GIFCT to improve the transparency and accountability of these content-blocking resources."
"As the database expands, the risks of mistaken takedown only increase," she added.
The group wants to continue to broaden its database to include hashes of audio files or certain symbols and grow its membership. It recently added home-rental giant Airbnb (ABNB.O) and email marketing company Mailchimp as members.
Facebook and tech giants to target attacker manifestos, far-right militias in database
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Re: Facebook and tech giants to target attacker manifestos, far-right militias in database
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden- ... 021-06-15/
June 16, 2021
U.S. lays out plan to confront white supremacist violence
By Jarrett Renshaw and Jan Wolfe
June 15 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration on Tuesday unveiled a plan to address the threat of violence posed by white supremacists and militias, five months after members of those groups joined in a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The White House released a 30-page plan for increased information sharing between federal and local officials and social media companies, additional resources to identify and prosecute threats and new deterrents to prevent Americans from joining dangerous groups.
The administration conducted a sweeping assessment earlier this year of domestic terrorism that labeled white supremacists and militia groups as top national security threats. The issue took on new urgency after a Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump who were trying to overturn Biden's election victory.
The new strategy stopped short of calling for new laws to fight domestic threats, and officials on Tuesday did not offer many details on specific new resources.
"We concluded that we didn't have the evidentiary basis, yet, to decide whether we wanted to proceed in that direction or whether we have sufficient authority as it currently exists at the federal level," said a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the announcement.
In a speech on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the "coming days and months" he would convene an interagency task force dedicated to combating domestic terrorism. Garland said he has already "begun to reinvigorate" that task force.
Garland said the Jan. 6 attack by Trump supporters had shown white supremacists and militia groups to be the country's greatest domestic security threat.
"In the FBI's view, the top domestic violent extremist threat comes from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocated for the superiority of the white race," Garland said.
In his budget proposal released last month, Biden, who succeeded Trump on Jan. 20, sought $100 million in additional funding to train and hire analysts and prosecutors to disrupt and deter terrorist activity.
"The threat is elevated," the administration official said. "Tackling it means ensuring that we do have the resources and personnel to address that elevated threat."
The administration is also toughening the federal government's screening methods to better identify employees who may pose insider threats. They are looking to share those techniques with private companies.
That effort includes an ongoing review by the Department of Defense over how and when to remove military members who are found to be engaged in known domestic terrorist groups.
The Defense Department review is looking at, among other things, how to define extremists, the senior administration official said.
"They are doing this in a way they feel ratchets up the protection but also respects expression and association protections," the official said.
June 16, 2021
U.S. lays out plan to confront white supremacist violence
By Jarrett Renshaw and Jan Wolfe
June 15 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration on Tuesday unveiled a plan to address the threat of violence posed by white supremacists and militias, five months after members of those groups joined in a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The White House released a 30-page plan for increased information sharing between federal and local officials and social media companies, additional resources to identify and prosecute threats and new deterrents to prevent Americans from joining dangerous groups.
The administration conducted a sweeping assessment earlier this year of domestic terrorism that labeled white supremacists and militia groups as top national security threats. The issue took on new urgency after a Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump who were trying to overturn Biden's election victory.
The new strategy stopped short of calling for new laws to fight domestic threats, and officials on Tuesday did not offer many details on specific new resources.
"We concluded that we didn't have the evidentiary basis, yet, to decide whether we wanted to proceed in that direction or whether we have sufficient authority as it currently exists at the federal level," said a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the announcement.
In a speech on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the "coming days and months" he would convene an interagency task force dedicated to combating domestic terrorism. Garland said he has already "begun to reinvigorate" that task force.
Garland said the Jan. 6 attack by Trump supporters had shown white supremacists and militia groups to be the country's greatest domestic security threat.
"In the FBI's view, the top domestic violent extremist threat comes from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocated for the superiority of the white race," Garland said.
In his budget proposal released last month, Biden, who succeeded Trump on Jan. 20, sought $100 million in additional funding to train and hire analysts and prosecutors to disrupt and deter terrorist activity.
"The threat is elevated," the administration official said. "Tackling it means ensuring that we do have the resources and personnel to address that elevated threat."
The administration is also toughening the federal government's screening methods to better identify employees who may pose insider threats. They are looking to share those techniques with private companies.
That effort includes an ongoing review by the Department of Defense over how and when to remove military members who are found to be engaged in known domestic terrorist groups.
The Defense Department review is looking at, among other things, how to define extremists, the senior administration official said.
"They are doing this in a way they feel ratchets up the protection but also respects expression and association protections," the official said.