How Violent Extremists and Terrorists use Redundancy
maargentino.substack.com
Why do threat actors share content outside of their core digital ecosystem? The most obvious reason for this is to expand the reach of their propaganda, as well as expand the presence of their communities onto both mainstream and adversarial platforms. Their intentions behind this can be twofold: A) they might not have a presence on the platforms their are disseminating content on and wish to recruit individuals from these spaces, B) they wish to have their content noticed and mainstream in a way that will catch the attention of (well intentioned but ignorant) oppositional actors that will notice this expansion and promote their content through research or reporting, or C) they wish to have harmful content they share in their existing ecosystems, be spread to a wider more mainstream space to harm target individuals or identity groups. To be successful in the dissemination of propaganda, redundancy plays a important role. Redundancy plays an important role in the violent extremist and terrorist propaganda toolkit. Redundancy can be used as a mitigation measure 1) in reaction to sustained attempts at the takedown of digital assets, and 2) in preparation of a kinetic attack, whereby an individual plans to leave a manifesto or plans a live stream.
How Violent Extremists and Terrorists use Redundancy
How Violent Extremists and Terrorists use…
How Violent Extremists and Terrorists use Redundancy
Why do threat actors share content outside of their core digital ecosystem? The most obvious reason for this is to expand the reach of their propaganda, as well as expand the presence of their communities onto both mainstream and adversarial platforms. Their intentions behind this can be twofold: A) they might not have a presence on the platforms their are disseminating content on and wish to recruit individuals from these spaces, B) they wish to have their content noticed and mainstream in a way that will catch the attention of (well intentioned but ignorant) oppositional actors that will notice this expansion and promote their content through research or reporting, or C) they wish to have harmful content they share in their existing ecosystems, be spread to a wider more mainstream space to harm target individuals or identity groups. To be successful in the dissemination of propaganda, redundancy plays a important role. Redundancy plays an important role in the violent extremist and terrorist propaganda toolkit. Redundancy can be used as a mitigation measure 1) in reaction to sustained attempts at the takedown of digital assets, and 2) in preparation of a kinetic attack, whereby an individual plans to leave a manifesto or plans a live stream.