White supremacists use social media aid, abet terror

Among the findings:

·  The research shows an uptick in hateful rhetoric on fringe web communities in the wake of significant political events or highly publicized extremist violence;

·  Bowers and Tarrant regularly shared themes associated with the white supremacist narrative of “white genocide,” which holds that the white race is threatened by non-white immigration, orchestrated largely by Jews;

·  On these fringe sites, users frequently rely on coded, ironic language so that only “insiders” can discern their rhetoric’s profoundly hateful intent;

·  On Gab, talk of “white genocide” frequently accompanies explicit genocide comments about Jews.

·  8chan hosts an especially radical iteration of extremism which enabled Tarrant to use it as a site for recruitment and for calling on others to commit violent acts.The research shows an uptick in hateful rhetoric on fringe web communities in the wake of significant political events or highly publicized extremist violence;

·  Bowers and Tarrant regularly shared themes associated with the white supremacist narrative of “white genocide,” which holds that the white race is threatened by non-white immigration, orchestrated largely by Jews;

·  On these fringe sites, users frequently rely on coded, ironic language so that only “insiders” can discern their rhetoric’s profoundly hateful intent;

·  On Gab, talk of “white genocide” frequently accompanies explicit genocide comments about Jews.

·  8chan hosts an especially radical iteration of extremism which enabled Tarrant to use it as a site for recruitment and for calling on others to commit violent acts.

“Fringe social media platforms are enabling terrorism in a way that would have been unimaginable even five or ten years ago,” Eileen Hershenov, ADL Senior Vice President of Policy, says in her testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. “The research demonstrates how online propaganda can feed acts of violent terror, and conversely, how violent terror can feed and perpetuate online propaganda. In essence, these platforms serve as round-the-clock white supremacist rallies, amplifying and fulfilling their vitriolic fantasies.”