Tech Against Terrorism December Newsletter
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22 December 2023 

Your monthly update from
Tech Against Terrorism

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Disrupting terrorists online in 2023

Message from the Executive Director

Dear partners and stakeholders,  

 

As another year disrupting terrorism online draws to a close, the storm clouds are far from having passed. While the overall presence of terrorist groups on major platforms has stabilised, continued adversarial shifts persists, as we revealed in October with the terrorist and violent experimentation of generative AI.  More worrying is the proliferation of terrorist-operated websites. Hundreds exist, evading oversight. This undermines wider counterterrorism efforts online. Urgent multilateral cooperation is needed to address this blind spot.    

All of these challenges converged on and after the Hamas attack in Israel on 7 October. The critical role of messaging platforms came under particular focus, as did a need to review  government and industry crisis responses. As an organisation charged with continuously monitoring the threat, we are now looking to build a 24/7 crisis response capability and establishing policies to uphold the dignity of victims online.  

At Tech Against Terrorism, we stepped up our work to ensure the public and private sector effectively challenge the threat landscape. The Terrorist Content Analytics Platform, developed with support from Public Safety Canada, now alerts over 100 platforms to new terrorist content found by our intelligence analysts. We also launched Tech Against Terrorism Europe to support implementation of regulations like the EU’s Terrorist Content Online regulation.   

We announced major new partnerships this year. With Microsoft, we are piloting an AI-powered tool to detect terrorist content at scale. With Google Jigsaw, we are building Altitude to give platforms an elevated view of terrorist and violent extremist content on their sites. These demonstrate the power of cross-sector collaboration.  

What worries us most looking ahead is the potential for generative AI to upend existing counterterrorism approaches. The technology could enable groups to automatically generate content that evades current detection methods. However, as our partnerships show, AI also presents opportunities to counter this threat.   


For all of us, 2024 looks likely to test the mettle of our counterterrorism structures further still. But through continued partnerships, innovation and vigilance, I remain convinced we can weather whatever storms may come.    

Yours sincerely,  


Adam Hadley   
Executive Director, Tech Against Terrorism  

OUR IMPACT

In 2023, Tech Against Terrorism:

  • Was cited by G7 Interior and Security Ministers in Japan
  • Disrupted terrorist-operated websites
  • Expanded our Knowledge Sharing Platform and Terrorist Content Analytics Platform


Delivered briefings to high-level policymakers including:

  • President Emmanuel Macron
  • Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and President Bill Clinton
  • The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Conference
Read more here
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State of Play Trends in Terrorist and Violent Extremist Use of the Internet 2023

Our 2023 State of Play report will chart principal shifts in terrorist and violent extremist behaviour and tactics online. It also aims to inform more comprehensive cross-industry efforts to counter terrorist exploitation of the internet.

Fill out your details to receive our report in early January:

Request your copy here

KEY PUBLICATIONS OF 2023

  • Who Designates Terrorism? The Need for Legal Clarity and Transparency to Moderate Terrorist Content Online (March 2023)
  • Patterns of Online Terrorist Exploitation (April 2023)
  • The Disruption Report (July 2023)
  • Terrorist Content Analytics Platform: Second Annual Transparency Report (August 2023)
  • Early Terrorist Adoption of Generative AI (November 2023)

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Tech Against Terrorism, PO Box 75784, London, UK

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