Analysis: New Zealand Attack and the Terrorist Use of the Internet

The UNODC supported initiative Tech Against Terrorism summarise tech sector responses to the exploitation of their services by the Christchurch terrorist sympathisers before, during, and after the attack on 15 March 2019. In particular, the analysis focus' on the so-called “manifesto” and the dissemination of the real-time video of the attack.

The use of internet technologies in this attack resembled the methodology of ISIS and al-Qaeda. Smaller file-sharing platforms were used with large platforms as “beacons” guiding users to outbound URLs. “Supporter networks” amplified terrorist propaganda by re-sharing and re-uploading material across an increasingly broad and fragmented range of smaller platforms.

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