non-white communities. Videos have also included support for proscribed group National Action, celebration of British terrorist David Copeland and support for Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant. BitChute have not faced any penalties for their content, despite the platform containing significant hateful and violent extremist content. While BitChute is known as a smaller platform, it tweeted of having 20 million unique visitors in April 2020 alone.[1]
Progressing through the ecosystem
161. In terms of the different platforms, there is a clear 'progression'. As the internet has grown, its use by the XRW has increased significantly. Extremists can now connect to potential new recruits via mainstream platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Reddit, before then encouraging them to move to using low- or zero-moderation fringe platforms such as 4chan, 8kun (formerly known as 8chan) and Gab where they will be exposed to more extreme content.[2] From there, they may also use encrypted apps (referred to by the Agencies as SMAs)[3] such as Telegram and Discord to coordinate and plan.[4] Once potential targets are channelled into small online 'echo chambers' on niche or private platforms, isolated from opposing viewpoints, it becomes much easier for recruiters to present them with violent material without fear of being banned by mainstream platforms or facing social censure.
162. However, not everyone will be guided through the online extremist ecosystem by an individual recruiter. Some will 'self-radicalise', gradually—or sometimes quickly—making their way through these stages to more extreme material as they seek out figures and ideologies that confirm their pre-existing biases.
- ↑ Written evidence - CCE, 17 December 2020.
- ↑ Mainstream social media platforms such as Twitter have terms of use which prohibit certain kinds of offensive content and hate speech, and they look to remove posts which violate these terms of use. However, there are a number of newer 'fringe' social media sites which market themselves as 'free speech' platforms, and therefore do not police the content posted there, even when it is explicitly extreme or violent.
- ↑ For example, secure messaging apps (SMAs) such as Telegram encrypt users' data on mobile telephones by default, in a way that even the companies themselves cannot decrypt. This essentially places the data on those telephones beyond the reach of any law enforcement agencies, even where they have obtained a lawful court order for access.
- ↑ Munich Security Report 2020.
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