China’s New Espionage | Children Coordinating Terror Attacks | Radioactive Materials & Dirty Bombs, and more

Facebook Dithered in Curbing Divisive User Content in India  (Sheikh Saaliq and Krutika Pathi, AP / Techxplore)
Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as its own employees cast doubt over the company’s motivations and interests.
From research as recent as March of this year to company memos that date back to 2019, the internal company documents on India highlight Facebook’s constant struggles in quashing abusive content on its platforms in the world’s biggest democracy and the company’s largest growth market. Communal and religious tensions in India have a history of boiling over on social media and stoking violence.
The files show that Facebook has been aware of the problems for years, raising questions over whether it has done enough to address these issues. Many critics and digital experts say it has failed to do so, especially in cases where members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, are involved.

Twitter Accounts Tied to China Lied That COVID Came from Maine Lobsters  (Michelle Shen, Tribune Content Agency, Techxplore)
Twitter accounts linked to China were discovered spreading misinformation about the origins of COVID-19, such as lies that the virus came from a shipment of Maine lobsters to Wuhan.
Oxford researcher Marcel Schliebs first noticed the misinformation campaign when he saw a tweet from Zha Liyou, the Chinese consul general in Kolkata, India.
Schliebs studies disinformation, propaganda and divisive political news content in the U.K. online information ecosystem at the Oxford Internet Institute. He linked the tweet to hundreds of Twitter accounts, some real and some fake, all of them spreading pro-China misinformation.

Right-Wing Terrorism Suspects Deny 3D-Printed Firearm Charges  (BBC)
Two men and a woman who were arrested as part of an investigation into right-wing terrorism have denied possessing components of a 3D-printed firearm. The three people, from Keighley, West Yorkshire, appeared at the Old Bailey charged with terror offences along with a fourth defendant from Anglesey. The four were arrested at homes in West Yorkshire, North Wales and Wiltshire. Appearing in court via video link, they entered not guilty pleas in relation to multiple terror and firearms charges. Daniel Wright, 29, Liam Hall, 30, and Stacey Salmon, 28, deny possession of components of a 3D-printed firearm for terrorist purposes. All the offences are alleged to have taken place between January and May, with all three - plus fourth defendant Samuel Whibley, 28 - remanded in custody. They are due to go on trial in January at Sheffield Crown Court. Mr. Wright, of Whinfield Avenue, Keighley, West Yorkshire, is charged with disseminating a terrorist publication, possessing articles for terrorist purposes, the collection of information contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act, possession of a firearm and manufacturing a firearm.

Anjem Choudary Orchestrating Online Campaigns in Support of Extremists Despite ISIS Conviction  (Lizzie Dearden, Independent)
Anjem Choudary is openly orchestrating online campaigns in support of hate preachers and extremists despite his terror conviction, it can be revealed. Choudary has organized a series of “Twitter storms” from the encrypted messaging app Telegram, where he is directing followers under his own name. Research by the Community Security Trust (CST), which works to protect Jewish people in Britain, found that over two months his efforts had resulted in around 43,000 mentions on Twitter. It comes as measures to prevent online hate and legal powers to tackle extremism face increased scrutiny following the murder of Conservative MP David Amess. Dave Rich, the CST’s director of policy, told The Independent: “Choudary has spent decades finding loopholes in our legislation that still haven’t been closed. “It feels like we have turned the clock back 20 years to a time when Choudary could spread his hateful views and attract new followers with impunity – except now he has the megaphone of social media to help him do it.” Mr. Rich said it was vital that the new online safety bill takes the responsibility for combating extremist activity away from social media companies that have been “either unwilling or unable to prevent well-known extremists from exploiting their technology.

Terror Warning: Expert Dismantles ‘Lone Wolf’ Myth– ‘These People Don’t Operate in Vacuum’  (Tara Fair, Express)
The comments come days after Home Secretary Priti Patel said that the terrorism threat level to Members of Parliament was now deemed “substantial” after lawmaker Sir David Amess was stabbed to death at a public meeting in his constituency. A 25-year-old man, Ali Harbi Ali, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with Sir David’s murder. Police are treating it as a possible terrorist attack linked to Islamist extremism. The Home Office assessment means the direct threat to politicians is the same as the overall national threat level, which means an attack is considered “likely”. Liam Duffy, advisor at the Counter Extremism Project, has warned the UK is going in “the wrong direction” to understand how to manage the threat due to a string of common misconceptions. Mr. Duffy told Express.co.uk: “One of the biggest misconceptions is that these people are alone, this myth of the lone wolf launching an attack. “Most of the time they are definitely lone actors, but even in the rare instances that they are radicalized mostly online and self-activated, they still do perceive themselves to be part of a much broader movement.” He explained that a ‘lone actor’ may be at the center, but wider analysis reveals an intricate ecosystem that allows that individual to commit acts of terror.

Children as Young as 13 Helping Coordinate Terror Attacks Via the Internet  (Helena Burke, AFP)
The Australian Federal Police have revealed that children as young as 13 years old have been caught planning catastrophic terror attacks via the internet. AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw told a Senate estimates hearing on Monday that religiously motivated violent extremism coordinated online was Australia’s biggest terrorism threat. “The AFP and our partners are protecting Australians from terrorism on a number of fronts, including the concerning trend of young children occupying the attention of law enforcement agencies,” he said. “Children as young as 13 years old – not even old enough to get their learner’s’ driver’s license – are planning and negotiating with others online to carry out catastrophic terror attacks. “Some of these youth feel isolated or do not feel like they belong, and so they retreat to the online world, looking to connect with someone, including RMVE (Religiously Motivated Violent Extremism) and IMVE (Ideologically motivated violent extremism) individuals.” Mr. Kershaw warned that Covid-19 lockdowns had allowed online terrorism circles to expand their membership. “There have been some significant shifts, in the diversity and complexity of the environment since the pandemic started almost a year and a half ago,” he said.

GAO: National Strategy Needed to Prevent Radioactive Materials from Becoming Dirty Bombs  (Kylie Bielby, HSToday)
Dangerous radioactive material is used in many medical and industrial applications. But, in the hands of terrorists, it could be used to construct a radiological dispersal device, or dirty bomb, that uses conventional explosives to disperse the material.
Recent security threats have raised concern that terrorists could target radioactive material for theft and use in a domestic attack. From 2010 through 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reported 2,133 nuclear materials events, which include instances of lost or stolen radioactive materials, radiation overexposures, leaking sources of radioactive material, and other events.
Current assessments of the threat environment show an increasing interest in using radioactive material for making a dirty bomb.