Challenges to Preventing Extremism Online and Offline
Mon, 13 November, 2017
12:00pm
Preventing and countering violent radicalization is fast becoming a central component of numerous national counter-terrorism strategies. Despite this, it is an understudied topic that is wrought with controversy. In an effort to help move the discussion forward, GW Law's Global Internet Freedom Project and GW's Program on Extremism will host a one-day conference with panels focusing on two key elements of this topic.
As extremist groups become increasingly adept at using online social media and communications platforms, both governments and technology companies have struggled to devise effective responses. While a number of recent initiatives have begun to see positive results, there is much more work to be done in this space. With this in mind, the first panel – “Legislating Extremist Content Online” – will address recent legislative and other government initiatives in Europe and elsewhere that seek to sanction technology companies who do not remove extremist content from their platforms in timely fashion (e.g. German social media law; Russian version of same).
A second major challenge that states face in preventing and combating extremism online is that, in many cases, potential terrorists do not actually break the law until carrying out an act of terrorism. The second panel – “The Challenges of Pre-Crime Prevention Measures” – will analyze what measures states are pursuing in order to stop those who are on the path to violent radicalization from committing a crime. Current efforts that the panel will discuss include the UK government’s Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIM) and Canada’s peace bond approach.