Internet

How the #Terrorgram Collective’s Neo-Nazi Influencers Groomed a Teen to Kill – #terror

Extremist Influencers: Neo-Nazi influencers on the social media platform Telegram created a network of chats and channels where they stoked racist, antisemitic and homophobic hate. Targeted Teen: The influencers, known as the Terrorgram Collective, targeted a teen in Slovakia and groomed him for three years to kill. Terrorgram Network: Juraj Krajčík subscribed to at least 49 extremist Telegram chats and channels, many of them nodes in the Terrorgram network, before he killed two people at an LGBTQ+ bar. The teen entered the chat with a friendly greeting. “Hello lads,” he typed. “Sup,” came a reply, along with a graphic that read “KILL JEWS.” Another poster shared a GIF of Adolf Hitler shaking hands with Benito Mussolini. Someone else added a short video of a gay pride flag being set on fire. Eventually, the talk in the group turned to mass shootings and bombings. And so in August 2019, Juraj Krajčík, then a soft-faced 16-year-old with a dense pile of brown hair, immersed himself in a loose collection of extremist chat groups and channels on the massive social media and messaging platform Telegram. This online community, which was dubbed Terrorgram, had a singular focus: inciting acts of white supremacist terrorism. Over the next three years, Krajčík made hundreds — possibly thousands — of posts in Terrorgram chats and channels, where a handful of influential content creators steered the conversation toward violence. Day after day, post after post, these influencers cultivated Krajčík, who lived with his family in a comfortable apartment in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. They reinforced his hatreds, fine-tuned his beliefs and fed him tips, encouraging him to attack gay and Jewish people and political leaders and become, in their parlance, a “saint.” On Oct. 12, 2022, Krajčík, armed with his father’s .45-caliber handgun, opened fire on three people sitting outside an LGBTQ+ bar in Bratislava, killing two and wounding the third before fleeing the scene. That night, as police hunted for him, Krajčík spoke on the phone with Marek Madro, a Bratislava psychologist who runs a suicide hotline and mental health crisis team. “He hoped that what he had done would shake up society,” recalled Madro in an interview, adding that the teen was “very scared.” During the call, Krajčík kept repeating phrases from his manifesto, according to Madro. The 65-page document, written in crisp English and illustrated with graphics and photos, offered a detailed justification for his lethal actions. “Destroy the degenerates!” he wrote, before encouraging people to attack pride parades, gay and lesbian activists, and LGBTQ+ bars. Eventually Krajčík, standing in a small grove of trees alongside a busy roadway, put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The next day, Terrorgram influencers were praising the killer and circulating a PDF of his manifesto on Telegram.

via propublica: How the Terrorgram Collective’s Neo-Nazi Influencers Groomed a Teen to Kill

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#Chemnitz: Mutmaßlicher Neonazi muss wegen erfundenem #Machetenangriff zahlen – #payday

Wegen eines erfundenen Machetenangriffs in Chemnitz muss ein mutmaßlich Rechtsextremer 4.500 Euro Strafe zahlen. Das teilte die Staatsanwaltschaft Chemnitz auf dpa-Anfrage mit. Der Mann habe den Strafbefehl wegen Vortäuschens einer Straftat akzeptiert, sodass die Entscheidung bereits rechskräftig sei. Der mehrfach vorbestrafte Mann war aus Nordrhein-Westfalen nach Chemnitz gezogen. Dort hatte sich der damals 29-Jährige im August 2023 mit einer verstümmelten Hand bei der Polizei gemeldet. Das vermeintliche Opfer gab bei der Polizei an, es sei von Linksextremen in einem Park mit einer Machete attackiert worden. Ihm seien mehrere Finger abgeschlagen worden. Auch im Telegram-Kanal der rechtsextremen “Freien Sachsen” wurde diese Geschichte verbreitet. Den Ermittlungen zufolge gab jedoch es keinen Angriff von Linksextremen.

via mdr: Chemnitz: Mutmaßlicher Neonazi muss wegen erfundenem Machetenangriff zahlen

siehe auch: ZU GELDSTRAFE VERURTEILT Mann ließ sich verstümmeln, um Linksextremisten-Angriff mit Machete vorzutäuschen. Mit einer verstümmelten Hand hatte sich der mutmaßliche Rechtsextremist bei der Polizei gemeldet – er sei von Linksextremen mit einer Machete attackiert worden, behauptete er. Es stellte sich heraus: Es gab keinen Angriff. Dafür aber den Versuch, den Staat zu betrügen. Für einen erfundenen Machetenangriff im Sommer 2023 in Chemnitz muss ein mutmaßlich Rechtsextremer 4500 Euro Strafe zahlen. Gegen ihn sei Strafbefehl wegen Vortäuschens einer Straftat und versuchter Strafvereitelung erlassen worden, informierte eine Sprecherin der Staatsanwaltschaft Chemnitz auf dpa-Anfrage. Der Mann habe dies akzeptiert, sodass die Entscheidung inzwischen rechtskräftig sei. (…) Den Ermittlungen zufolge gab es keinen Angriff von Linksextremen. Stattdessen hatte das vermeintliche Opfer mit einem Komplizen vereinbart, ihm die linke Hand abzuschlagen, damit er infolge einer Behinderung staatliche Leistungen kassieren kann. Doch erwischte der Helfer nicht die ganze Hand, sondern nur drei Finger. Der Komplize war im Dezember vom Landgericht Chemnitz zu einer Haftstrafe von drei Jahren verurteilt worden wegen absichtlicher schwerer Körperverletzung in Tateinheit mit gefährlicher Körperverletzung.

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‘The Hard Reset’: Here’s how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the world – #terror

A U.S. leader of the neo-Nazi accelerationist network known as the #Terrorgram Collective directly communicated with a 16-year-old who killed four people in a school shooting spree that took place in Brazil in 2022. The link was disclosed for the first time in a filing last month by federal prosecutors opposing bail review for Matthew Robert Allison, one of two Terrorgram leaders who are charged with soliciting the murder of federal officials and conspiracy to provide material support for terrorists, among other alleged offenses. Allison’s co-defendant, 34-year-old Dallas Erin Humber, of Elk Grove, Calif., told him that “she had direct messages with a Terrorgram user who was planning to commit a racially motivated school shooting,” according to the government filing. The reference to the school shooting plot surfaced in “secret chat” between Humber and Allison on Oct. 23, 2022. A month later, the government said, the Terrorgram user carried out the shooting, resulting in the deaths of four people. (…) As a conspiracy case linked to at least three attacks around the world with charges carrying up to 220 years in prison for each defendant, the Terrorgram prosecution is the United States’ most high stakes white supremacist terrorism case. The U.S. State Department designated Terrorgram as a global terrorist group, joining the United Kingdom and Australia, just a week before President Joe Biden left office. So far, the Trump Department of Justice has given no indication that it intends to change course on the Terrorgram case. Two attorneys from the National Security Division and two others from the Civil Rights Division assigned while Biden was still in office remain on the case.

via raw story: ‘The Hard Reset’: Here’s how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the world

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„Die gleiche Sch“: Moderator teilt im US-Fernsehen gegen AfD aus

US-Moderator Jon Stewart lässt in der „Daily Show“ einen Seitenhieb gegen die AfD fallen. Auslöser ist Elon Musks Unterstützung der Rechtspopulisten. Der US-amerikanische Moderator Jon Stewart hat die AfD mit US-Präsident Donald Trump verglichen. In einem Gespräch über Elon Musk und dessen politische Positionen sagte Stewart in der satirischen Nachrichten-Sendung „The Daily Show“: „Ich bin mir nicht sicher, was er für überparteilich hält, aber es ist sicher nicht: ‚Ich unterstütze Donald Trump und auch Deutschlands AfD.‘ Das ist nicht überparteilich. Das ist einfach die gleiche Sch*.“ Jon Stewart reagierte mit dieser Bemerkung auf Elon Musks Tweets auf der Social-Media-Plattform X (ehemals Twitter). Dort bot Musk an, in der „Daily Show“ aufzutreten, wenn das Interview „ungeschnitten“ gezeigt werde. Wenig später twitterte er, Stewart sei ein „Propagandist“ und nicht vertrauenswürdig. „Er war früher überparteilich.“ Dass ausgerechnet Elon Musk politische Neutralität fordert, kommentierte Stewart mit Ironie: „Der Typ, der sich seine eigene Dark-MAGA-Kappe* anfertigen ließ (Anmerk. d. Red.: Stewart spricht damit Musks schwarze „Make America Great Again“-Baseball-Kappe an), um im Oval Office mit dem Präsidenten zu posieren, den er mit 270 Millionen Dollar unterstützt hat, denkt, dass ich zu parteiisch bin?“ Auch US-amerikanische Politik-Experten kritisieren die AfD. Die Partei stelle in Europa unter allen rechten Parteien eine „einzigartige Gefahr für die transatlantische Ordnung“ dar, sagte etwa Robert Benson, leitender Politik-Analyst beim Center for American Progress (CAP), BuzzFeed News Deutschland von IPPEN.MEDIA. Der Politikwissenschaftler Eric Langenbacher sieht die AfD als „Bedrohung für Deutschland und Europa. Manche sagen sogar, es sei wie in dem Film ‚Er ist wieder da‘“, sagte Langenbacher BuzzFeed News Deutschland. Er betreut das Projekt „Understanding the AfD“ am American German Institute (AGI) in Washington und unterrichtet Politik an der Georgetown University

via fr: „Die gleiche Sch“: Moderator teilt im US-Fernsehen gegen AfD aus

190326-D-SW162-2042 (47479668591) (cropped).jpg
By Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States – 190326-D-SW162-2042, CC BY 2.0, Link

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X Threatens Our Democracy. Canada Should Ban It

The risks of election interference, misinformation and attempts to support a US takeover are too great. Last year, as the U.S. government debated and then followed through on banning TikTok, Republican lawmakers advanced numerous arguments against allowing a hostile foreign power to control a significant medium of public discourse. They said a social media application owned by someone who is close to an autocratic leader might be used as propaganda. They said the amount of data harvested by the app from users’ phones could pose enormous security risks, providing information to the security services of a hostile power. They said such an app could be used for espionage and tracking down locations of federal employees and contractors. They said it could be used to conduct influence operations, shaping public opinion or promoting specific narratives. They said excessive use of the app has been linked to mental health conditions and the spread of hateful conduct and inappropriate adult content, not to mention outright misinformation. They said it could be used to promote specific political candidates whose policies favour the interests of a foreign power. All these concerns are both credible and valid. What’s more, from a Canadian perspective, all these concerns apply equally to the app formerly known as Twitter. That’s why it’s time to ban Twitter/X in Canada. It has been 2 1/2 years since the notorious billionaire Elon Musk purchased Twitter, with the site being renamed X about six months later. Over that time, the site has become more overtly racist, become home to increasing levels of misinformation and been accused of interfering in several elections. Under Musk’s leadership, the social media site has gutted content moderation, unbanned alt-right hate mongers and become an openly partisan propaganda machine. Musk has frequently used spurious claims of “free speech absolutism” as an excuse for his company’s indefensible actions. To be clear, this would not hold up in court, if the U.S. court system still had a spine.

via thetyee: X Threatens Our Democracy. Canada Should Ban It

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Exploring the Paramilitary #Leaks

In January, Distributed Denial of Secrets published over 200 gigabytes of chat logs and recordings from paramilitary groups and militias, including American Patriots Three Percent (APIIII) and the Oath Keepers. The files were obtained by John Williams, a wilderness survival trainer who spent years deep undercover infiltrating the American militia movement – if you haven’t read Joshua Kaplan’s reporting on this in ProPublica, I recommend it. It’s come to my attention that this dataset is rather challenging for journalists and researchers to wrap their heads around. I wrote a book, Hacks, Leaks, and Revelations, aimed at teaching journalists and researchers how to analyze datasets just like this. I’m also quite interested in what’s in here myself – this is one of the only datasets I’ve downloaded since I left The Intercept, actually. So, I figured I’d write a series of posts publicly exploring this dataset and sharing my findings. I’d love for this to be an interactive experience! If you’re interested in this dataset, please subscribe to get these posts emailed directly to your inbox (I just converted my blog into a newsletter). If you’re subscribed, you can post comments. If you have questions about the dataset or my finding or anything else, or if you have suggestions on what parts of it to dig into, post comments and I’ll engage. If you want to support my work, considering becoming a paid supporter. (…) If you want to search the data in Aleph (an excellent tool that lets you index datasets and then search them for keywords), DDoSecrets has indexed it here in the Library of Leaks: https://search.libraryofleaks.org/datasets/59

via micahflee: Exploring the Paramilitary #Leaks

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Violent Online Networks Target Vulnerable and Underage Populations Across the United States and Around the Globe – #terror #764 #csam

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is warning the public of a sharp increase in the activity of “764” and other violent online networks which operate within the United States and around the globe. These networks methodically target and exploit minors and other vulnerable individuals, and it is imperative the public be made aware of the risk and the warning signs exhibited by victims. These networks use threats, blackmail, and manipulation to coerce or extort victims into producing, sharing, or live-streaming acts of self-harm, animal cruelty, sexually explicit acts, and/or suicide. The footage is then circulated among members of the network to continue to extort victims and exert control over them. VIOLENT ONLINE NETWORKS Some of the violent actors in these online networks are motivated by a desire to cause fear and chaos through their criminal conduct. However, motivations are highly individualized, and some threat actors may be engaging in criminal activity solely for sexual gratification, social status or a sense of belonging, or for a mix of other reasons that may not be ideologically motivated. TARGETING These networks exist on publicly available online platforms, such as social media sites, gaming platforms, and mobile applications commonly used by young people. Many threat actors systematically target underage females, but anyone — juveniles, adults, males, and females — can be targeted. Victims are typically between the ages of 10 and 17 years old, but the FBI has seen some victims as young as 9 years old. These violent actors target vulnerable populations to include children as well as those who struggle with a variety of mental health issues, such as depression, eating disorders, or suicidal ideation. Threat actors often groom their victims by first establishing a trusting or romantic relationship before eventually manipulating and coercing them into engaging in escalating harmful behavior designed to shame and isolate them. EXTORTION AND SELF-HARM The networks use extortion and blackmail tactics, such as threatening to swat1 or dox2 their victims, if the victims do not comply with the network’s demands. The actors can manipulate or coerce victims to produce Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and other videos depicting animal cruelty and self-harm. Self-harm activity can include cutting, stabbing, or fansigning.3 Members of the networks threaten to share the explicit videos or photos of the victims with the victims’ family, friends, and/or post the photos and videos to the internet. The networks control their victims through extreme fear and many members have an end-goal of forcing the victims they extort or coerce to live-stream their own suicide for the network’s entertainment or the threat actor’s own sense of fame. RECOMMENDATIONS The FBI urges the public to exercise increased vigilance when posting personal photos, videos, or personal identifying information, or direct messaging online. Although seemingly innocuous when posted or shared, the images and videos can provide malicious actors an abundant supply of content to exploit and manipulate or alter for criminal activity. Victims are vulnerable to embarrassment, harassment, extortion, or continued long-term re-victimization. The FBI recommends looking for warning signs indicating a victim may be engaging in self-harm or having suicidal thoughts.

via fbi: Violent Online Networks Target Vulnerable and Underage Populations Across the United States and Around the Globe

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