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Digital Bridge: Russia’s Digital Geopolitics — Blue Jedi — Online Extremists  (Mark Scott, Politico)
People’s attention (rightly) has been focused on the war in Ukraine. But March 15 marked the three-year anniversary of a white supremacist killing 51 people in New Zealand — an attack he livestreamed on Facebook. Since 2019, the so-called Christchurch Call (promoted by the French and New Zealand governments) has tried to combat violent and extremist speech online. That includes the creation of an (industry-funded) group called the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism whose mandate has increasingly shifted to homegrown terrorism. There’s a problem: it hasn’t worked. From Islamic State using a codebook of emojis to sidestep Facebook’s content rules to Western nationalists organizing offline events via Telegram to white supremacists building a replica of Auschwitz on TikTok, online extremism has gone from strength to strength since that fatal attack in Christchurch. Even now, a quick Google search for the so-called “Christchurch manifesto,” or rabbling doctrine left behind by the shooter, will take you to the text in a few clicks. COVID-19 has compounded this situation. The last two years have provided an online melting pot for all types of extremists to join forces, often in odd ways. So far, no policy response has been able to tackle this problem.

Germany to Disarm Far-Right Extremists and Restrict Gun Access  (Frank Jordans, AP)
Germany’s top security officials announced a 10-point plan Tuesday to combat far-right extremism in the country that includes disarming about 1,500 suspected extremists and tightening background checks for those wanting to acquire guns. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the far right poses the biggest extremist threat to democracy in Germany and said authorities would seek to tackle the issue through prevention and tough measures. “We want to destroy far-right extremist networks,” Faeser told reporters in Berlin, saying this included targeting financial flows that benefit such groups, including merchandising businesses, music festivals and martial arts events. Authorities will work to remove gun licenses from suspected extremists, crack down on incitement spread online through social networks and combat conspiracy theories online. Faeser said an emphasis will also be put on rooting out extremists who work in government agencies, including security forces. Reports about far-right extremists among the police and military in Germany have raised particular concerns because of fears that they could use privileged information to target political enemies.