New Research Network Launched to Understand Latest Trends in Online Terrorist Propaganda

The Global Research Network on Terrorism and Technology has been formed to better understand how terrorist networks operate online, the ethics of content moderation, and the interplay between online content and offline actions.

The Network is led by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in the UK and brings together partners from around the world, including the Brookings Institution (US), the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (Netherlands), Swansea University (UK), the Observer Research Foundation (India), the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (Israel) and the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (Indonesia).

The Network is supported by the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), an industry-led initiative comprising Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter.

The Global Research Network on Terrorism and Technology will publish a series of papers that aims to provide recommendations around the prevention of terrorist exploitation of technology to policymakers, technology companies and other stakeholders working on the problem of terrorist content online.

How Communication Service Providers and Regulators Can Learn from Counter-Terrorist Finance

The Network’s first paper, launched today, outlines how internet regulators can learn lessons from experiences in countering terrorist financing to tackle terrorism content online.

Written by Florence Keen of RUSI’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, the paper argues that policymakers developing a regulatory regime for communication service providers (CSPs) should engage with the sector itself, in order to mitigate against the unintended consequences of regulation, as experienced within the counter-terrorist finance regime. 

Without effective collaboration between regulators and those tasked with tackling terrorist content online, the paper warns of counter-productive measures such as over-reporting, a tick-box approach to compliance, and discrimination against smaller entities that may have fewer resources to commit to regulatory compliance.

Florence Keen said: ‘There are clear benefits in taking lessons learnt from long-standing efforts on counter-terrorist financing into account when developing a response to the online terrorist threat. Any such partnership must however consider the legal and practical gateways for sharing information, particularly as they may include stakeholders operating in multiple jurisdictions.’

Forthcoming Papers Tackling Terrorist Content Online

Additional papers published by the Global Research Network on Terrorism and Technology will examine several areas affecting terrorist content online. These include: exploring the recruiting tactics terrorists use online; the ethics and laws surrounding terrorist content moderation; and the resources needed to adequately and responsibly remove online terrorist content.

James Sullivan, Research Fellow in Cyber Threats and Cyber Security at RUSI said:

‘Although the evolution of technology provides improved capability and services to all sections of society, threat actors continue to exploit it for their own causes and activities. The Global Research Network on Technology and Terrorism will conduct research that develops a strong evidence base for policymakers and practitioners to draw on. In doing so, we aim to inform approaches to reducing the spread of terrorism and extremism in the online environment.’

Dr Erin Saltman, Policy Manager EMEA at Facebook said:

‘The vision of the GIFCT is to prevent terrorists from exploiting our platforms. We are an industry-led initiative, but we also know that to achieve our goals, we need to collaborate with a wide range of NGOs, academic experts, and governments. The research conducted by this network will help our industry better understand the myriad of ways terrorist entities use the digital space, and how to effectively challenge it.’

Notes

1. 1. Further details about the Global Research Network on Terrorism and Technology can be found at https://RUSI.org/GRNTT and discussed on Twitter #TechCountersTerror
   2. The Network’s first paper is: ‘Public–Private Collaboration to Counter the Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes: What can be Learnt from Efforts on Terrorist Financing?’, written by Florence Keen, Research Analyst at RUSI’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies.
   3. The paper can be accessed here.
   4. The Network is led by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and comprises of the Brookings Institution (US), the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (Netherlands), Swansea University (UK), the Observer Research Foundation (India), the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (Israel) and the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (Indonesia).