TITLE: A North Korean government-backed APT actor targets organisations in South Korea and the U.S

CONTENT: A North Korean government-backed threat actor has been linked to attacks targeting government and military personnel, think tanks, policy makers, academics, and researchers in South Korea and the U.S.

Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) is tracking the cluster under the name ARCHIPELAGO, which it said is a subset of another threat group tracked by Mandiant under the name APT43.

The tech giant said it began monitoring the hacking crew in 2012, adding it has "observed the group target individuals with expertise in North Korea policy issues such as sanctions, human rights, and non-proliferation issues."

EXCERPT: A North Korean government-backed APT actor targeting government and military personnel in South Korea and the U.S

LINK:

TOPIC: Cyberconflict and warfare

TREND: N/A

PROCESS: N/A

DATE: 5 April, 2023

COUNTRY: North Korea, South Korea, the U.S.

TITLE: Britain uses cyber capabilities to counter enemies online

CONTENT: The UK National Cyber Force (NCF) – a partnership between the country’s armed forces and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – for the first time disclosed details about its approach to “responsible cyber operations to counter state threats, support military operations, and disrupt terrorists and serious criminals”.

The document outlines that central to NCF’s approach is the ‘doctrine of cognitive effect’ – using techniques that have the potential to sow distrust, decrease morale, and weaken adversary ability to plan and conduct their activities effectively with the goal of changing their behaviour. This can include preventing terrorist groups from publishing pieces of extremist media online or making it harder for states to use the internet to spread disinformation. NCF’s operations are covert, and the intent is sometimes that adversaries do not realise that the effects they are experiencing are the result of a cyber operation.

"In an increasingly volatile and interconnected world, to be a truly responsible cyber power, nations must be able to contest and compete with adversaries in cyberspace," GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming said. The statement was published alongside a 28-page paper designed "to illustrate aspects of how the UK is being a responsible cyber power". It did not elaborate on the specifics of those operations.

EXCERPT: British government hackers have launched operations against militants, state-backed disinformation campaigns and attempts to interfere in elections, the GCHQ said.

LINK:

TOPIC: Cyberconflict and warfare

TREND: N/A

PROCESS: N/A

DATE: 4 April, 2023

COUNTRY: UK

TITLE: Chinese YMTC to resume chip production amid US restrictions

CONTENT: Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), a Chinese semiconductor manufacturer, is reportedly planning to begin production at a new chip plant in the second half of 2024. The plant is expected to help boost China's efforts towards self-sufficiency in the production of semiconductors, which have become increasingly important in modern technology.

YMTC, which is owned by the state-backed Tsinghua Unigroup, is reportedly relying on more domestic suppliers for the new plant, as China looks to reduce its reliance on foreign technology amid increasing tensions with the US. By opening a new fab the company will be able to improve its competitiveness against its main rivals, Korean Samsung and American Micron.

The country has been investing heavily in its semiconductor industry in recent years, with the aim of becoming a major player in the global market. YMTC has received $7bn in funding since the implementation of new export controls, as Beijing views the company as important for developing its domestic chips industry. Funding came from government-led investment vehicles, such as the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund (also known as the "Big Fund").

EXCERPT: Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), a Chinese semiconductor manufacturer, is reportedly planning to begin production at a new chip plant in the second half of 2024. The plant is expected to help boost China's efforts towards self-sufficiency in the production of semiconductors

LINK: https://www.ft.com/content/9ad41255-dfa9-419f-9e30-0ab537ab54fd?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=22038&pnespid=u7pmBCVKLqNGhaDdoDKwSpTctRegXsd8MvmznPB6tBlmiH9LD7x8hWMnPpLoWULC1uEUk6foiQ

TECHNOLOGY: Semiconductors

DATE: March, 2023

COUNTRY: China, USA

TITLE: Central and East European governments urge tech firms to fight disinformation

CONTENT: Prime ministers of Central and East European countries have signed an open letter urging tech companies to take concrete steps to promote accuracy over engagement on their platforms. The letter is a call to action against foreign information manipulation and interference, given that social media have been used as platforms to spread disinformation campaigns in these countries. The letter was signed by the prime ministers of Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and released by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala's office.

EXCERPT: Prime ministers of Central and East European countries have signed an open letter urging tech companies to take concrete steps to promote accuracy over engagement on their platforms.

LINK: https://www.reuters.com/technology/east-europe-governments-urge-tech-firms-fight-disinformation-2023-03-29/

TREND: Fake news

DATE: 03/04/2023

COUNTRY: TITLE: (for updates, add a title of your own, different from the original)

CONTENT: Content of your update/resource/event

EXCERPT: Excerpt (a brief, tweet-like summary of your update); excerpts should be no longer than 300 characters

LINK: Link to the original article

TOPIC: Related topic(s)

TREND: Related trend(s)

PROCESS: Related process(es)

DATE:

COUNTRY:

TITLE: Russia publishes new foreign policy concept

CONTENT: A new version of Russia’s foreign policy concept, approved by President Vladimir Putin, was published on Friday. This document defines the priority areas, goals and objectives of the country's international activities, and will serve as a road map for the Foreign Ministry and other ministries and agencies.

The 42-page document consists of six sections and a total of 76 paragraphs. The document also focuses on international information security aspects and, in particular, mentions the right to take asymmetric and symmetric measures in case of risks to the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, including with the use of modern ICTs (para 26).

The previous version of the concept was adopted in November 2016. The work to update it has lasted for the past few years. In January 2022, the edited document was submitted for discussion with the permanent members of the Security Council. However, as a result of the meeting, the president sent it back for revision. Last December, the head of state considered the draft of the updated concept again at a meeting with the Security Council.

EXCERPT: Russia publishes a new foreign policy concept to outline its national interests in the foreign policy domain,strategic goals, key tasks as well as priority guidelines of its foreign policy.

LINK:

TOPIC: Cyberconflict and warfare

TREND: N/A

PROCESS: N/A

DATE: 31 March, 2023

COUNTRY: Russia

TITLE: (for updates, add a title of your own, different from the original)

CONTENT: AI image generator Midjourney has interrupted free trials of its service after some of its generations went viral online, misleading people to mistake AI generated images for real photographs. The problem was that many of those images generated using Midjourney were politically sensitive, including fabricated pictures of Trump being arrested or the pope wearing a designer jacket.

EXCERPT: AI image generator Midjourney has interrupted free trials of its service after some of its generations went viral online, misleading people to mistake AI generated images for real photographs.

LINK: https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/30/23662940/deepfake-viral-ai-misinformation-midjourney-stops-free-trials

TOPIC: Fake News

DATE: 30/03/2023

TITLE: Google Search is adding new features to help users verify information

CONTENT: Google announced that they will introduce new features to help users verify information on their search engine. The new functionalities include a "Perspectives" button and "About this author" as well as expanding on the currently existing "About this result". The idea behind the "Perspectives" feature is to give users a variety of noteworthy voices on a news topic to broaden their understanding of the subject matter. The “About this author” feature, allows users to learn more about the authors behind the content they are reading.

EXCERPT: Google announced that they will introduce new features to help users verify information on their search engine

LINK: https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/28/google-search-is-adding-new-perspectives-and-about-this-author-features-to-help-users-verify-info/

TOPIC: Content Policy

DATE: 30/03/2023

COUNTRY: United States

In a bid to strengthen their trade partnership, Ukraine and the United Kingdom have signed a digital trade agreement. Notably, Ukraine becomes only the second country after Singapore to enter such an agreement with the UK.

The digital trade deal supplements the Political, Free Trade, and Strategic Partnership Agreement signed by the two nations and will become effective after all interstate procedures are completed.

As per reports by Ukrainian media, the latest agreement aims to prevent any possible trade barriers from arising in the future while guaranteeing Ukrainian IT companies continued and unrestricted access to markets, which is vital to their growth and expansion.

TITLE: A new espionage campaign by a hacking group with suspected ties to Russia spotted targeting Ukraine, Europe, India

CONTENT: The group, known as Winter Vivern, is “highly creative” and operates with limited resources, carefully selecting targets for attacks, according to an analysis by cybersecurity company SentinelOne. The hackers’ activities appear to support the interests of the Russian and Belarusian governments, especially in relation to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the report says.

Winter Vivern recently targeted various government agencies and private businesses, including telecom companies supporting Ukraine, SentinelOne said. The list includes Polish government agencies, the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Italy, and individuals in the Indian government.

It is unclear how successful the group's attacks were and what damage they caused. SentinelOne did not respond Thursday morning to The Record's request for comment.

The research report said that organizations directly or indirectly involved in the war should be vigilant against the group’s cyberattacks.

EXCERPT: Russia-aligned ‘Winter Vivern’ APT group spotted targeting Ukraine, Europe, India

LINK:

TOPIC: Cyberconflict and warfare

TREND: N/A

PROCESS: N/A

DATE: 16 March, 2023

COUNTRY: Global

António Campinos, the President of the European Patent Office, and Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, have signed a working arrangement in accordance with EU Regulation 1257/2012, Article 14, on European patents with unitary effect.

The arrangement is designed to foster cooperation and exchange of views between the two institutions, with the aim of maximizing the benefits of the Unitary Patent system and promoting its widespread use.

The arrangement includes a provision for the EPO and European Commission to share relevant data and information, including insights from surveys and case studies concerning the promotion and use of the Unitary Patent, and to conduct regular meetings to facilitate and support their cooperation activities.

TITLE: Russian court fines Wikipedia over spreading misinformation

CONTENT: After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, they introduced new laws restricting what people can report about the conflict. Since then, they have fined or blocked websites that publish information conflicting with the Kremlin's official narrative. The Wikimedia Foundation was fined 2 million roubles ($27,000) by a Russian court after the authorities accused it of failing to delete alleged misinformation about the Russian military from Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation was already fined on the same grounds, after it failed to delete two articles related to the war. The organisation may appeal the ruling.

EXCERPT: The Wikimedia Foundation was fined 2 million roubles ($27,000) by a Russian court after the authorities accused it of failing to delete alleged misinformation about the Russian military from Wikipedia.

LINK: https://www.reuters.com/technology/russian-court-fines-wikipedia-over-military-misinformation-2023-02-28/

TOPIC: Fake news

DATE: 14/03/2023

COUNTRY:Russia

Lithuania's Radio and Television Commission has ordered internet providers to block access to IP addresses used to watch Russian TV channels, which have been targeted by European Union (EU) sanctions. The decision was made on 8 March after discussions with internet provider representatives, and following confirmation of their technical ability to comply. Lithuania banned the rebroadcasting and online dissemination of TV and radio channels owned or financed by Russia and Belarus following amendments to the law on public information in 2022.

South Korea establishes a fund to expand its metaverse sector

South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT has announced a new fund, called the Metaverse Fund, to drive metaverse initiatives in the country. The South Korean government has invested 24 billion Korean won ($18.1 million) to create a fund of more than 40 billion Korean won ($30.2 million) towards metaverse development. The fund will support mergers and acquisitions of various firms in the metaverse ecosystem and help domestic metaverse-related companies compete with global players. South Korea sees the metaverse as a new economic growth engine and is actively supporting it. However, the country is also keeping checks and balances on cross-border threats in the physical world, such as cryptocurrency thefts and cyberattacks against specific North Korean groups and individuals.

TITLE: TikTok announced a policy update to tackle community safety.

CONTENT: TikTok announced an update on how they will tackle community safety. Leading social media companies have been accused of enabling criminal networks to misuse online platforms to promote human smuggling or trafficking, and to take advantage of vulnerable people trying to escape conflict and poverty. In this context, Tiktok has put forward proactive steps intended to improve community safety. This means they will adopt a zero-tolerance policy with content that violates human rights. The company said they are working closely with law enforcement agencies to overcome the difficulties that may arise when it comes to putting this policy in practice.

EXCERPT: Tiktok has put forward proactive steps intended to improve community safety. This means they will adopt a zero-tolerance policy with content that violates human rights.

LINK: https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-gb/an-update-on-our-work-to-tackle-human-exploitation

TOPIC: Content policy

DATE: 10/03/2023

TITLE: Multiple fingerprint scanning on touchscreen display granted to Jenetric

CONTENT: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded the patent for Jenetric’s new technology which involves scanning biometrics from multiple fingers on touchscreen displays such as smartphones. Jenetric is exploring use of Thin Film Transistor optical technology for in display fingerprint sensors on mobile phones along with use of traditional scanners for homeland security market. The technology uses simultaneous recognition of multiple fingers by a touchscreen fingerprint sensor.

EXCERPT: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office grants multiple fingerprint scanning on touchscreen display patent to Jenetric

LINK:

TOPIC: Finger print scanenr

TREND: Fingerprint

DATE: 3 March 2023

COUNTRY: USA

TITLE: Rail providers in Switzerland push back on false face recognition information.

CONTENT: The rail providers SBB GmbH and Swiss Rail have pushed back claims by media that the new customer frequency measurement systems installed at the rail stations will use face recognition to capture personal data which which will put privacy at risk. Both SBB and Swiss Rail have clarified that the computer vision technology will be used to record the flow of commuters more accurately. The head of Estate management for SBB said that the they want to know how subgroups of their customers behave on the rail station especially those with skis or bicycles. However, critic have still insisted that the language used in the original tender indicated that the person should clearly be recognized including their traits such as gender and age-implying collection of biometric data via facial scans.

EXCERPT: Rail service providers push back against media claims on facial recognition data in Switzerland

LINK: https://www.biometricupdate.com/202303/rail-providers-push-back-on-false-info-about-facial-recognition

TOPIC: Facial recognition

TREND: Digital identity

DATE: 3 March 2023

COUNTRY: Switzerland

TITLE: IEEE calls for biometric papers for the International Joint Conference on Biometrics and US universities are seeking for biometric tools

CONTENT: The IEEE is seeking for papers for the International Joint Conference on Biometrics that will take place in Slovenia between 25 and 28th September 2023. The calls for papers falls in a range of topics including; face and action recognition; multi-spectral biometrics; demographic bias and large-scale ID management and biometric law enforcement and anti-spoofing. Meanwhile, two universities in New York are holding a competition for non contact fingerprint algorism and systems and the registrations close on March 2023 and all participants have till March 24th 2023 to submit their entries.

EXCERPT: IEEE calls for biometric papers as US universities call for biometric tools

LINK:

TOPIC: Digital identity, Finger print

TREND: Digital identity

DATE: 3 March 2023

COUNTRY: USA

TITLE: Idemia finalizes more US states for digital finger printing.

CONTENT: Idemia has signed contracts with seven states in US to support finger print capture. The states include; Washington, West Virginia, South Carolina, Louisiana and Texas. In Washington state, Idemia is supporting finger print capture to support criminal background checks for services such as insurance, social, health, child and family services. In West Virginia, Texas and South Carolina, checks for licensing, employment and volunteers activities using Idemia's Identogo technology in line with the regulations in these states.

EXCERPT: Idemia signs more finger print contracts with more US states.

LINK:

TOPIC: Digital identity, Finger print

TREND: Digital identity

DATE: 3 March 2023

COUNTRY: USA

TITLE: Signatories of the 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation launch Transparency Centre.

CONTENT: The signatories of the 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation have launched the new Transparency Centre. This novel Centre aims at ensuring accountability of signatories' efforts to fight disinformation and the implementation of commitments taken under the Code. With the launch the Transparency published for the first time the baseline reports on how the signatories are turning the commitments from the Code into practice. All signatories have submitted their reports on time, using an agreed harmonised reporting template aiming to address all commitments and measures they signed onto. This is however not fully the case for Twitter, whose report is short of data, with no information on commitments to empower the fact-checking community. The next set of reports is due in July, providing further insight on the Code's implementation and more stable data covering 6 months.

EXCERPT: Excerpt (a brief, tweet-like summary of your update); excerpts should be no longer than 300 characters

LINK: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/code-practice-disinformation-new-transparency-centre-provides-insights-and-data-online

TOPIC: Fake news

DATE: 02/03/2023

COUNTRY: European Union

TITLE: OpenAi raised controversies for outsourcing data labelling to underpaid Kenyan labourers.

CONTENT: Last December, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that can generate text on almost any topic. The new AI received praise all over the world. However, several institutions and scholars also raised concerns about the widespread use of the AI chatbot disrupting academia and an investigation by TIME revealed that in order to make ChatGPT less toxic, OpenAI used outsourced Kenyan labourers earning less than $2 per hour, through a company called Sama. Outsourced Kenyan workers were also subject to graphic sexual content to clean the platform of violence and hate speech. The labourers were sent snippets of text for labelling content depicting graphic content like murder, suicide, torture, and other toxic content that left employees mentally scarred by the work. An OpenAi spokesperson said in a statement that the company did not issue any productivity targets. A Sama spokesperson stated that they were responsible for managing the payment and mental health provisions for employees, explaining that workers were entitled to attend sessions with “wellness” counselors.

EXCERPT: Last December, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that can generate text on almost any topic. An investigation by TIME revealed that in order to make ChatGPT less toxic, OpenAI used outsourced Kenyan labourers earning less than $2 per hour.

LINK: https://time.com/6247678/openai-chatgpt-kenya-workers/

TOPIC: Content policy

DATE: 03/03/2023

COUNTRY: Kenya

TITLE: US Supreme Court ruling could make social media platforms liable for online content

CONTENT: On Tuesday the US Supreme Court began hearing arguments in a case called Gonzalez v. Google. This case could have global implications, since it questions whether tech companies can be held legally responsible for content promoted by their algorithms. If the Supreme Court weakens the law that protects companies from liability for content produced by others, platforms may need to revise or eliminate the recommendation algorithms that govern their feeds. And if the Court scraps the law entirely, tech companies could face lawsuits based on user content.

EXCERPT: On Tuesday the US Supreme Court began hearing arguments in a case that questions whether tech companies can be held legally responsible for content promoted by their algorithms.

LINK: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-googles-supreme-court-case-could-rattle-the-internet/

TOPIC: Content policy

DATE: 23/02/2023

COUNTRY: United States

TITLE: Report finds RT videos are still spreading Ukraine disinformation on YouTube

CONTENT: A report published on Wednesday by a US-based disinformation watchdog called Newsguard found 250 uploads of 50 RT-created videos about the war in Ukraine across more than 100 YouTube channels. This issue is problematic because YouTube had banned all Russian state-funded media from its platform globally in March 2022. However, despite the ban, Russia-controlled publications have found their way on to YouTube. Researchers expressed their concern regarding the scale of disinformation being produced by RT despite global efforts to combat its spread.

EXCERPT: Report finds RT videos are still spreading Ukraine disinformation on YouTube. The study found 250 uploads of 50 RT-created videos about the war in Ukraine across more than 100 YouTube channels.

LINK: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/feb/22/rt-ban-youtube-videos-google-disinformation

TREND: Fake news

DATE: 22/02/2023

COUNTRY: Russia

TITLE: Ireland establishes working group to combat disinformation

CONTENT: The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in Ireland, Catherine Martin TD, announced the establishment of a working group to develop a National Counter Disinformation Strategy. The creation of this multi-stakeholder working group was among the recommendations in The Future of Media Commission report. Ms. Martina Chapman, National Coordinator of Media Literacy Ireland and an independent media literacy consultant, has been nominated to independently chair the Group

EXCERPT: Ireland announced the establishment of a working group to develop a National Counter Disinformation Strategy.

LINK: https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/6ece9-unpublished-multi-stakeholder-working-group-established-to-develop-a-national-counter-disinformation-strategy/

TREND: Fake news

DATE: 21/02/2023

COUNTRY: Ireland

TITLE: Rise in ransomware attacks against US manufacturing plans

CONTENT: A recent report by Dragos, one of the leading companies in critical infrastructure protection, highlights the rise in ransomware attacks against critical infrastructure and in particular against the manufacturing systems. The report shows that the manufacturing sector had at least 437 ransomware attacks in 2022, accounting for more than 70% of these disruptive attacks that industrial organizations experienced the previous year with two emerging groups, Chernovite and Bentonite, that focus on attacking the industrial sector.

EXCERPT: A recent report by Dragos, one of the leading companies in critical infrastructure protection, highlights the rise in ransomware attacks against critical infrastructure and in particular against manufacturing systems.

LINK: https://cyberscoop.com/ransomware-manufacturing-dragos/

TOPIC: Protection of Critical Infrastructure

TREND: Ransomware attacks

PROCESS: -

DATE: 14 February 2023

COUNTRY: United States

TITLE: Twitter fails to comply with EU regulations to combat disinformation.

CONTENT: Twitter failed to complete its first European Union report on how it deals with disinformation. Tech companies were asked to hand in a report this month on how they implemented the EU's Code of Practice on Disinformation, agreed in June 2022. Social media platforms were asked to provide detailed data on how they tackle falsehoods and foreign interference on their platforms. Twitter was the only company that provided an incomplete report, with no information on what its plan to cooperate with fact-checkers is, according to the European Commission. Platforms with more than 45 million users in the EU will start facing investigations as soon as September 2023, and Twitter is expected to fall under this category. Companies that fail to comply with their obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA) might face fines of up to 6 percent of their global revenues.

EXCERPT: Twitter failed to complete its first European Union report on how it deals with disinformation. It was the only tech company that provided an incomplete report.

LINK: https://www.politico.eu/article/elon-musk-twitter-fails-eu-first-disinformation-test-digital-services-act/

TOPIC: Content policy

TREND: Fake news

PROCESS: Related process(es)

DATE:

COUNTRY:

TITLE: Extremists use social media to lure to women and girls into (online) extremism

CONTENT: The European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network Practitioners (RAN Practitioners) network published a paper which explores narratives and strategies used by right-wing and Islamist extremist actors to persuade and recruit young women and girls into violent extremism. Especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) programs struggled to maintain access to their target groups, especially in offline spaces. The document notes that digital platforms have not been used enough to reach out to girls and women in a strategic manner. On the contrary, the perpetrators took better advantage of social media in approaching and recruiting young women and girls. The paper looks into their tactics and young women and girls’s vulnerabilities. Vulnerabilities the perpetrators take advantage of include, but are not limited to, discrimination young women and girls experience online and offline, desire to belong to a sisterhood-like group, and other issues related to understanding sexuality and other insecurities. While misogynist narratives are on the rise over the past several years and women are being targeted with defamatory hate speech and anti-feminist discussion online, in parallel right-wing extremism (RWE) groups, such as neo-Nazi organisations and identitarian organizations, strategically engage in producing content and using specific hashtags with the aim of persuading girls and women into online extremism. It particularly looks into online platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Telegram. The paper offers recommendations for preventing and countering extremists’ online targeting of girls and women.

EXCERPT: The European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network Practitioners (RAN Practitioners) network paper explores narratives and strategies used by extremist actors to persuade and recruit young women and girls into violent extremism. Perpetrators take advantage of their insecurities and vulnerabilities to lure them into online extremism.

LINK: [https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-03/ad_hoc_young_women_social_media_Lessons-p-cve_022022_en.pdf]

TOPIC: Violent extremism, Gender rights online

TREND: n/a

DATE: February 25, 2022

COUNTRY: Global

TITLE: Promoting masculinity (online) leads to harmful content and violent extremism(update on DW)

CONTENT: The “Masculinities and Violent Extremism” paper produced by the International Peace Institute and the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) looks across the ideological spectrum of violent extremists and terrorist groups and the ways they utilise their masculinities to recruit new and retain existing members. The so-called “Islamist” violent extremist use the narratives around feminism, gender roles and women’s rights and justice movements to repel such social changes through idealising warrior masculinity and male role in decision-making, more often than not based on violence and subjugation of women. Experts identified racially and ethnically motivated terrorism as a unique form of political violence which entails fluid boundaries between organised terrorism and hate crime which is reflected both online and offline. Such notions of masculinity are shared across social media platforms, in forms of catchy videos, memes, websites dedicated to male insecurities, thus creating an enabling environment for the growth of violent extremism. The paper notes that members of such platforms were “responsible for several gender-based, antiMuslim, and anti-Semitic mass killings''. Moreover, the paper suggests that technology companies and governments could focus more on categorising misogynistic and harmful content online, and hate speech rhetoric. Document offers recommendations for all relevant actors. It noted that counterterrorism and CVE policies and programs should be monitored and evaluated using a robust human rights framework, especially in policy areas which relate to regulating misogynistic hate speech online.

EXCERPT: The “Masculinities and Violent Extremism” paper looks into the ways masculine narratives online lead to hateful narratives targeted at women, minorities, religious groups, ultimately resulting in violent extremism both online and offline. It calls for technology companies and governments to look into misogynist content being shared on social media.

LINK: [https://www.ipinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Masculinities-and-VE-Web.pdf]

TOPIC: Violent extremism, Gender rights online

TREND: n/a

DATE: June 2022

COUNTRY: Global

ICANN77 Policy Forum will take place on 12-15 June 2023 in Washington, D.C, the USA.

The Policy Forum is the second meeting in the three-meeting annual cycle. The focus of this meeting is the policy development work of the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees and regional outreach activities. ICANN aims to ensure an inclusive dialogue that provides equal opportunities for all to engage on important policy matters.

For more information, please visit the dedicated page.

TITLE: test