Spike in Domestic Terrorism Incidents | Extremists on TikTok | Election Threats Task Force, and more

Is Joe Biden Dead, Replaced By 10 Different Deepfake Body Doubles? An Investigation  (Matthew Gault and Samantha Cole, Vice)
“The difference in Biden’s overall appearance between the two videos appears to be just a result of different lighting in the room,” Hany Farid, image forensics expert and professor at University of California, Berkeley told Motherboard. And in the original video from the conference, he noted, “you can clearly see that the claims being made about blinking and other artifacts are unfounded.” According to Giancarlo Fiorella, an investigator at Bellingcat, to achieve the uncanny valley effect of the side by side comparisons, an editor had to zoom in on Biden’s face in the YouTube video. Software zooms famously distort images. Fiorella noted this when Motherboard spoke with him about the videos. “[Zooming in] reduces the quality and maybe accounts for some of the ‘uhh, is this guy ok?’ effect,” he said. “I bet if you zoom in on anyone’s face when they’re talking they’d look weird, sorta like an uncanny valley effect.

DOJ Reveals What Is Behind Spike in Domestic Terrorism Incidents  (Jerry Dunleavy, Washington Examiner)
The Justice Department shed light on the reasons behind the doubling of domestic terrorism cases since early 2020, with a top DOJ official saying prosecutions related to the Capitol riot make up “at least a significant portion of that jump.” Matt Olsen, the assistant attorney general in charge of DOJ’s National Security Division, told the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday that “the number of FBI investigations of suspected domestic violent extremism has more than doubled since the spring of 2020.” He revealed much of that rise is due to prosecutions of those involved in the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a member of the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot, asked Olsen if the jump in domestic terrorism investigations has led to a jump in indictments, excluding Jan. 6 prosecutions. “I don’t have a specific number on that, congressman, because that number, that jump, doubling, that number does include the Jan. 6 cases, and there, of course, we have over 800 arrests of individuals — not all of them are characterized as domestic violent extremists, to be clear, but many are, and those do account for at least a significant portion of that jump over the past two years in the number of investigations,” Olsen replied.

Former Marine Is Accused of Leading Neo-Nazi Group and Planning to Attack a New York Synagogue  (Elisha Fieldstadt, NBC News)
A former Marine is accused of leading a neo-Nazi group that was alleged to have been planning an attack on a New York synagogue. Matthew Belanger is charged with gun violations and could spend up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted, according to court documents. A criminal complaint filed last month in U.S. District Court for Hawaii alleged that Belanger, while he was serving as a Marine in Honolulu, paid a police officer on Long Island, New York, to buy him guns that he wouldn’t be allowed to buy legally. When the FBI questioned Belanger about guns he owned, he didn’t mention a PTR assault rifle or a Luger-style pistol that he had the officer buy for him. The FBI began investigating Belanger because it suspected he was planning to harm people and destroy property in hate-motivated attacks, according to court documents filed this month. “The investigation was grounded in evidence that defendant was using social media to conspire with others, including members of a group called Rapekrieg, to commit … hate crimes,” the documents said. The group, based on Long Island, “had procured weapons, uniforms, and tactical gear, and discussed committing attacks on a synagogue, Jewish persons, women, and minorities, including the rape of ‘enemies’ to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate, and the rape of white women to increase the production of white children in furtherance of Rapekrieg’s goal of creating a white ethno-state through accelerationist means.

Germany Offers Money to Families of Olympic Attack Victims  (AP News)
The German government indicated Wednesday that it was willing to pay further compensation to the families of 11 Israeli athletes killed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich by a Palestinian group. Family members of the athletes have criticized the proposed amount as “insulting.” Relatives of the athletes have long criticized how German authorities handled the attack and its aftermath. Demands for further compensation have threatened to overshadow a planned memorial event for the 50th anniversary of the massacre. Germany’s Interior Ministry said it was holding talks with the relatives and that the “serious consequences for the surviving dependents of the victims in immaterial and material terms” should be reassessed. “An offer of further recognition payments to the surviving relatives of the victims of the attack” was planned, the ministry told German news agency dpa adding that “the memorial ceremony of the 50th anniversary should be the occasion for a clear political classification of the events of 1972.

Examining White Supremacist and Militant Accelerationism Trends on TikTok  (Abbie Richards, GNet)
In the wake of the racially motivated terrorist attack at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York in May 2022, it is crucial to assess the ways in which violent, white supremacist content presents on all social media platforms. The alleged shooter posted a 180-page manifesto detailing the racist and antisemitic beliefs he distilled from 4chan. Though platforms directly connected to the attacker are receiving increased scrutiny, the role of mainstream platforms like TikTok in promoting these violent ideologies is largely overlooked. The hateful ideologies which motivate attacks like the one in Buffalo are not unique to alternative platforms and message boards. As such, examining violent extremist trends and far-right discourse on TikTok is crucial to inform assessments of the current state of violent extremism online. 
Successful moderation of hateful ideologies and violent extremist content online has long proved to be a deeply challenging problem for social media platforms. However, TikTok presents unique challenges given its explosive user growth in recent years as well as its particularly young user base. On TikTok, these ideologies can more easily permeate mainstream platforms, where they find new audiences susceptible to disinformation. TikTok videos haves the potential to reach millions overnight, and thus white supremacist and millitant accelerationist content can achieve unprecendented levels of exposure. TikTok’s recommendation algorithm is especially of concern because engagement with a singular hateful narrative has been found to result in the further recommendation of other hateful narratives. While TikTok receives much attention for its dances and memes, the proliferation of extremist content is often overlooked despite the amplification they receive on the platform. This article examines how the white supremacist and militant beliefs which fueled the racist massacre in Buffalo manifest on TikTok. 

Readout of Election Threats Task Force Briefing with Election Officials and Workers  (DOJ)
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. convened a virtual discussion today with a bipartisan group of approximately 750 election officials and workers to provide an update on the work of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force.