Violent Extremism Lingers Online With US Flagging Less Content

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have scaled back efforts over the past two years to disrupt violent extremists’ online activities, according to current and former US officials and internet radicalization specialists who fear the trend will accelerate under the incoming Trump administration.

FBI and DHS officials are requesting fewer content takedowns and sharing less threat-related information with social media companies, according to a US official, two former US officials and three researchers who work with the agencies, all of whom requested anonymity to preserve government relationships. In particular, the agencies have largely stopped flagging networks of white supremacist accounts that try to recruit or radicalize new followers, according to the researchers.

Law enforcement officials had worked closely with platforms after a mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, fueled by election-related conspiracy theories popularized online. The FBI, for example, alerted social media and gaming platforms about online communities where users had been observed floating plans for violent attacks, according to several researchers who worked with the bureau.