August 2022 Update

The TCAP newsletter provides updates on the month's development of the platform, key events such as our monthly office hours, and the TCAP statistics!

Our highlights:

  • This month (01.08-31.08) the TCAP identified 1,369 URLs containing terrorist content and sent 662 alerts to 23 tech companies. 70% of this content is now offline.

  • We've begun our Inclusion Policy expansion. We've added James Mason to our Inclusion Policy, based on his designation by Canada. You can read more about this inclusion below, or read our dedicated blog post here.

  • Don't forget to sign up to our TCAP Office Hours next week! If you can't make this session and would like to access a recording of this session or past Office Hours, get in touch at [email protected] or you can request a copy here.

The TCAP Statistics

The TCAP statistics detail the number of automated terrorist content alerts we have sent. To reiterate, the TCAP alerts tech companies when we find terrorist content on their platforms. With terrorist content, we mean official content produced by one of the terrorist groups included in the first version of the TCAP, based on our Inclusion Policy. This entails that the TCAP identifies terrorist content, after which we verify whether that content falls within our scope before alerting tech platforms. For weekly TCAP statistics, please see our Twitter, @TCAPAlerts.

The following graph shows our metrics for the month of August, as well as our total statistics since the start of TCAP alerts in November 2020.

August stats.png

Automated Terrorist Content Alerts

Automated Terrorist Content Alerts

The TCAP identifies, collects, verifies, archives, processes, and alerts terrorist content.

Inclusion Policy Expansion- James Mason

  • The Terrorist Content Analytics Platform (TCAP) is now including content produced by James Mason, an influential American neo-Nazi accelerationist ideologue. This addition aligns with our Inclusion Policy based on evolving global designations, and with our own analysis of the online threat posed by the violent far-right.

  • Given James Mason wrote Siege, we deem this to be official content produced by a designated entity in scope, and therefore will alert this material to tech companies when we find it on their platforms. We will also alert any other form of content directly produced by Mason, as well as media content featuring Mason when it furthers his propaganda purposes.

  • James Mason has re-engaged with a new generation of neo-Nazis, establishing connections with the leadership of Atomwaffen Division (AWD) and writing 41 new pieces for the Siege Culture website in 2017/18. Based on our analysis, Mason is active within communities associated with designated terrorist organisations and continues to publish new essays online and appears in videos, interviews and podcasts that promote their activities.

  • We assess Siege content to glorify, incite, and encourage terrorism, and based on this and Mason’s designation, we will now begin alerting this content to tech companies, allowing them to assess it against their own terms of service.

  • You can find the full blog post on our inclusion of James Mason here.

What’s Next:

  • We are expanding our Inclusion Policy! Over the coming months, we will announce which terrorist entities we will start including in the TCAP, based on the legal designation of terrorist entities by democratic governments and supranational institutions. Keep an eye out for upcoming announcements and blogposts on each new inclusion.