- There is limited use of ***.
Mainstream social media sites
148. XRW terrorists and extremists use an array of social media sites, many of which are considered 'mainstream', such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For example:
- National Action issued a series of tweets in 2016 applauding the murder of Jo Cox MP.
- Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (also known as Tommy Robinson—co-founder and former leader of the English Defence League)[1]—developed a substantial following on Facebook prior to his lifetime ban in February 2019.
149. Extreme Right-Wing Terrorists use *** mainstream social networking sites to communicate, although there is evidence that they self-censor ***. The fact that they continue to use mainstream media applications, despite the restrictive measures introduced by such applications to withdraw content against guidelines, suggests that they view the benefits of reaching a wider audience as outweighing the risk of their accounts being suspended and the possibility of increased scrutiny by the authorities. The Home Office pointed to the commercial benefits of the mainstream applications as a particular draw for Extreme Right-Wing Terrorists:
If you are trying to monetise your activity, you cannot really do that on the little platforms because there are not enough people out there. You can do it on the bigger ones, so one of the conversations we are having a lot with the CSPs at the moment is, is this really what you want to see being used on your platforms for commercial gains by third parties, and I am quite hopeful of that over the next year.[2]
The Government's dialogue with the CSPs, and the measures it is taking with regard to tackling extremist and terrorist content online, can be found later in this Report.
'Fringe' social networking sites
150. There are a range of fringe social networking sites and online fora which are used primarily by Extreme Right-Wing Terrorists. These include: Gab, 8kun (formerly known as 8chan) and 4chan—all sites which offer something of a 'safe haven' for individuals and offer greater anonymity for users.
151. Brenton Tarrant, the Christchurch attacker, was a user of 8chan. The site was shut down in August 2019 by the service provider Cloudflare in the wake of the El Paso shooting. However, on 8 August 2019, The Guardian reported that this action had simply shifted users to other platforms:
- ↑ The English Defence League (EDL) is a Far-Right Islamophobic organisation in the UK. According to its mission statement: "The English Defence League has arisen from the English working class to act, lead and inspire it in the struggle against global Islamification" (www.englishdefenceleague.org.uk).
- ↑ Oral evidence - Home Office, 28 April 2021.
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