III. THE THREAT OF ALGORITHMS AND TERRORISM Although the tactics of terrorism vary from group to group and individual to individual, it can be said that to a certain degree, terrorist organizations tend to be risk averse with their repertoire, favouring the tried and tested effectiveness of weapons such as guns and bombs.30, 31 Nevertheless, terrorism is undoubtedly not a stagnant threat. Terrorist groups and individuals have shown that they can adapt very well and have evolved considerably over the decades. They have demonstrated the potential to innovate, for instance, in their organizational structure, becoming decentralized, franchised and global. They have also evolved significantly in terms of tactics, moving from irregular guerrilla warfare to indiscriminate attacks.32, 33 Technology-wise, this trend to innovate is especially pronounced with respect to the Internet and social media, which have proven to be extremely valuable for terrorists. The Internet and social media, as well as by extension other ecosystems such as the online gaming platform, have become powerful tools for terrorist groups to radicalize, inspire, and incite violence; claim responsibility for attacks; recruit; raise and move funds; buy and transfer weapons; and make tutorials or instruments available to their members.34, 35 For example, in 2019, the Christchurch shooting in New Zealand was live-streamed by the attacker on Facebook. Although the video was taken down several minutes later, the attack was broadcasted across the globe, amplifying its impact and effects on the victims.36 The scope of this growing phenomenon can be seen from efforts such as Europol’s Referral Action Day. As part of 2020 Referral Action Day, Europol and 17 countries identified and assessed for removal as many as 1,906 URLs linking to terrorist content on 180 platforms and websites in only one day.37 Over the course of two years, Facebook itself has removed more than 26 million pieces of content from groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al-Qaida and, in the first three months of 2020, it removed approximately 4.7 million pieces of content connected to “organized hate”, including an increase of over 3 million pieces of content from the last quarter of 2019.38, 39
30
United Nation Office on Drugs & Crime. Terrorism and Conventional Weapons. Accessible at https://www.unodc.org/images/odccp/terrorism_weapons_conventional.html
31
Bruce Hoffman. (1994). Responding to Terrorism Across the Technological Spectrum. RAND Corporation.
32
Bruce Hoffman. (2017). Inside Terrorism, Third Edition. Columbia University Press.
33
Karlheinz Steinmüller. (2017). The World in 2040. Framework Conditions for New Kinds of Terrorism. In T.J. Gordon et al. (Eds.). Identification of Potential Terrorists and Adversary Planning: Emerging Technologies and New Counter-Terror Strategies.
34
United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee and ICT4Peace. (Dec. 2016). Private Sector Engagement in Responding to the Use of the Internet and ICT for Terrorist Purposes: Strengthening Dialogue and Building Trust. United Nations. Accessible at https:// ict4peace.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Private-Sector-Engagement-in-Responding-to-the-Use-of-the-Internet-and-ICT-for-Terrorist-Purposes-1.pdf
35
United Nation Office on Drugs & Crime and United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force. (Sep. 2012). The use of the Internet for terrorist purposes. United Nations. Accessible at https://www.unodc.org/documents/terrorism/Publications/Use_of_Internet_for_Terrorist_Purposes/ebook_use_of_the_Internet_for_ terrorist_purposes.pdf
36
Tech Against Terrorism. (Mar. 26, 2019). Analysis: New Zealand attack and the terrorist use of the Internet. Tech Against Terrorism. Accessible at https://www.techagainstterrorism.org/2019/03/26/analysis-new-zealand-attack-and-the-terrorist-use-of-the-Internet/
37
Europol. (Jul. 3, 2020). Terrorist “How-to” Guides - Focus of Latest Europol Referral Action Day [Press release]. Europol. Accessible at https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/terrorist-%E2%80%98how-to%E2%80%99-guides-focus-of-latest-europol-referralaction-day
38
Facebook. (Sept. 17, 2019). Combating Hate and Extremism. Facebook. Accessible at https://about.fb.com/news/2019/09/combating-hate-and-extremism/
39
Facebook. (May 12, 2020). An Update on Combating Hate and Dangerous Organizations. Accessible at https://about.fb.com/ news/2020/05/combating-hate-and-dangerous-organizations/
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