Will The EU Digital Services Act (DSA) Make Social Media Safer For Their Users ? (Paper and Video)

Mai 2021: CEP Policy Paper: “EU Commission consultation – Digital Services Act package – ex ante regulatory instrument of very large online platforms acting as gatekeepers”

Authors: Alexander Ritzmann (CEP Senior Advisor), Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler (CEP Senior Director) and Lucinda Creighton (CEP Senior Europe Advisor)

Download

Video (YouTube)

The current draft DSA is based on a set of narratives about the role, function and business models of so-called gatekeeper platforms that do not seem to adequately reflect their actual functionality and commercial purpose. This paper will therefore those systemic misunderstandings and provide an alternative narrative that might help to build the internet and intermediary services the EU is actually aiming for.

Violent Right-Wing Extremism And Terrorism – Towards a common international understanding and shared legal concepts – Insights from Germany (Video)

Alexander Ritzmann

Link to video

This virtual conference organized by CEP on behalf of the German Foreign Office aimed to explore this issue in greater depth. The event highlighted a range of instruments governments have found useful in countering the domestic threat posed by violent right-wing extremism and terrorism. It discussed how developing a common conceptual understanding of the terrorist nature of networks within these wider transnational movements could open up the possibility to use already developed multilateral legal, administrative and operational structures, as well as instruments and mechanisms to mitigate terrorist threats.

The conference was organized in the framework of Germany’s chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Member States had the opportunity to exchange information on their already existing mechanisms and discuss which counterterrorism instruments may be already applicable to this threat and which may need further modification.

LONE (terrorist) ACTORS IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS (RAN Spotlight magzine)

May 12, 2021

By Alexander Ritzmann

Weblink to RAN Spotlight magazine / VoxPol blog article

The Halle attacker – who killed two people, injured two and aimed at killing dozens more at a Synagogue on 9 October 2019 – was inspired and motivated by online manifestos. In addition, he streamed his attack online and posted his own manifesto online, too. His attack has been marked as a typical ‘lone actor’ attack.

‘Lone wolves’, ‘lone actors’, ‘solo terrorists’, ‘loners’, ‘lone attackers’ – all definitions suggest a single individual, finding his or her way into an extremist ideology without affiliating to a group or network and operating on their own. However, most of the so-called ‘lone actors’ who carry out attacks subscribed to certain narratives and unorganised collectives. These collectives are leaderless and without clear hierarchies, but their followers are connected and united by shared narratives, values and enemies. For example, during his trial, the Halle shooter said that he did not join any group since he thought they would all be under surveillance. But he made clear that he feels like a soldier fighting for the “white race”.

„Extremistische und jugendgefährdende Inhalte online – Kann der EU Digital Services Act Nutzer:innen wirksam schützen?“ (Video)

Video: EU Digital Services Act: Einschätzungen, Vorschläge und Fragen | Alexander Ritzmann – CEP

Das Counter Extremism Project (CEP) und Das NETTZ luden zu einem digitalen Fachgespräch zum Thema „Extremistische und jugendgefährdende Inhalte online – Kann der EU Digital Services Act Nutzer:innen wirksam schützen?“ ein, das am 15. April 2021 stattfand.

Digital Terrorist and ‘Lone Actors’ (RAN paper)

RAN Small Scale Meeting Digital Terrorist and ‘Lone Actors’, online event 24 February 2021

Alexander Ritzmann und Anneleis Jansen

Download

How to find and identify digital terrorist “lone actors” before they commit violent acts was the lead question of this expert meeting. A special focus was put on the role and functions of social media platforms and gaming platforms. The term “lone-actor terrorism” has over time developed into a controversial and confusing concept.

While individuals might act alone on an operational level, usually they are or feel as being a part of a specific group or movement. Particularly in the digital age, so-called “lone actors” usually are and feel neither lonely nor alone. Some “lone-actor” attackers did not join any group since they thought they would be under government surveillance, but they felt part of a collective united by shared values, actions and enemies.

The trial of the Halle attacker (2020) and the Christchurch commission report (2020) indicated that neither intelligence services nor law enforcement nor the tech industry knew where to look for these digital lone actors or how to identify them online. Also, there was little awareness of the basic functionality (and abuse) of platforms, websites and other online services used by the perpetrators beyond Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Transnationaler Rechtsextremismus: Kein Bier für Neonazis (ZEIT online)

Rechtsextreme vernetzen sich zunehmend international. Unser Gastautor berät die Bundesregierung, wie sie mit der daraus entstehenden Gefahr umgehen soll. Hier schlägt er mögliche Gegenstrategien vor. Ein Gastbeitrag von Alexander Ritzmann

https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/2021-02/transnationaler-rechtsextremismus-eu-bewegung-gewalt-judenfeindlichkeit-fluechtlingspolitik-osteuropa-alexander-ritzmann

The Role of Hotbeds of Radicalisation (RAN paper)

Alexander Ritzmann and Rik Scheele

Download

RAN Small Scale Meeting The Role of Hotbeds of Radicalisation, online meeting, 25 November 2020

While violent extremism is a global phenomenon, extremists start their radicalisation process in their local context. Radicalisation to violent extremism, however, is not happening everywhere. Even between cities, neighbourhoods or communities that are comparable in regards to political, social or socioeconomic circumstances or grievances, there are often very different radicalisation-related developments. In other words, some neighbourhoods struggle with a significantly higher number of radicalised individuals than others, making them “hotbeds of radicalisation”. Why do some neighbourhoods turn into hotbeds while others, facing comparable challenges and factors, do not?

During the meeting, Islamist extremist and right-wing extremist hotbeds were analysed and discussed. While the topic is still under-researched, two key factors have been identified that seem to be particularly relevant when present at the same time: 1) charismatic “entrepreneurs of extremism”, and 2) indifference and/or incompetence by local actors (government/civil society) who miss out on the opportunity to intervene early on. Recommendations on the prevention or countering of hotbeds of radicalisation were discussed and collected.

The Right-Wing Terrorist Threat in Germany | Alexander Ritzmann

The violent right-wing extremist and terrorist milieu in the United States and Europe has developed a distinctly transnational character in its activities and therefore presents an increasing security threat on both sides of the Atlantic.

In November 2020, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) Germany concluded a larger scale research project focused on the transnational connectivity of violent right-wing extremism and terrorism in Europe and the United States. This research was conducted on behalf of the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany and analyzed in a comparative manner the situation in France, Germany, Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The full report can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/333nGuL

Terroristische Inhalte Online: Diskussion des aktuellen EU-Entwurfs zur Regulierung des Internets (Video)

Das Counter Extremism Project (CEP) und Das NETTZ luden zu einer digitalen Gesprächsrunde zum DSA (Digital Services Act) ein, die am 19. Januar 2021 stattfand.

Agenda:

Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director von CEP und ehem. Koordinator des ISIL, Al-Qaida and Taliban Monitoring Team des Sicherheitsrates der Vereinten Nationen

Saskia Liebig, Juristische Referentin, FSM – Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Multimedia-Diensteanbieter

Alexander Ritzmann, Senior Advisor von CEP und des Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) der Europäischen Kommission (DG HOME)

Josephine Ballon, Rechtsanwältin, HateAid – Plattform gegen digitalen Hass CEP-Papiere zu DSA u. NetzDG: https://www.counterextremism.com/germ…

Lawmakers call for tougher EU disinformation laws in wake of US riots (EURAKTIV) (auch auf deutsch)

By Samuel Stolton with Philipp Grüll 

Full article

Artikel auf deutsch

…

„But even on mainstream platforms, acts of violence had been openly advocated. In a TikTok video, one Trump supporter asked his fellows to bring their guns to the protests.

For that reason, the escalation in violence could have hardly come as a surprise to US authorities, says Alexander Ritzmann, a consultant to the European Commissions Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) and advisor to the Counter Extremism Project (CEP).

“They must have known,” Ritzmann told EURACTIV Germany. According to public FBI documents, the Bureau has been closely following the activities of online groups such as QAnon, a loose collective of conspiracy theorists who believe Donald Trump is their only saviour from the villains among Washington’s “elite”.

The FBI considers QAnon and other “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists” as a terrorist threat.

In Brussels, lawmakers are finalising a regulation on terrorist content online (TCO). Among other things, it will introduce a stricter notice-and-action-system which will force platforms to delete terrorist content within an hour of notification.

However, Ritzmann believes that any system relying on notice-and-action cannot be sufficient as long as platforms can lean back and wait until users or authorities ask them to act.“