INCLUSION POLICY

Tier Policies

1: Threat to Life

2: Crisis

3: Designation

4: Promotional

5: Recommended

Policy: Inclusion of designated Terrorist Entities on TCAP

The scope of the Terrorist Content Analytics Platform (TCAP) includes content created by the following groups:

  • Designated Islamist terrorist organisations (IS including official provinces, Al-Qaeda including official affiliates, Taliban)

  • Designated far-right terrorist organisations

Inclusion of IS and al-Qaeda content

The TCAP’s initial focus on these entities grounds the platform in the rule of law as well as delimits our proof of concept and refine our content collection and classification processes, we have decided to initially only include the official IS and AQ content and exclude supporter-generated material.

To determine which IS and al-Qaeda affiliate groups to include in the initial scope we used the following methodology:

  • We examined the designation lists of democratic nation states and transnational institutions to:

  • Verify whether the group was proscribed as a terrorist organisation and whether they were designated as an al-Qaeda' or IS affiliate, to establish organisational proximity to IS

  • The lists consulted include the United Nations, the European Union and the governments of the United States (both the State Department and Treasury), the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and France

  • We conducted Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) analysis of terrorist groups’ propaganda outlets and their methods of dissemination to establish official ties to al-Qaeda or IS

  • We consulted with leading experts on terrorist groups

   

Based on these criteria, the initial version of the TCAP will host content produced by the following groups:

Al-Qaeda Affiliates

  • Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM)

  • al-Shabab

  • al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)

  • al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)

  • al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)

  • Hurras al-Din

   

IS Affiliates

  • Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)

  • Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP)

  • Islamic State Somalia (ISS)

  • Islamic State Greater Sahara (ISGS)

  • Islamic State Sinai Province

  • Islamic State Libya Province

  • Islamic State Algeria Province

  • Islamic State Tunisia Province

  • Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP)

  • Islamic State India Province

  • Islamic State Pakistan Province

  • Islamic State East Asia Province (Abu Sayyaf Group)

   

To reiterate, by following the designation lists of democratic nation states’ and supranational institutions we ground the TCAP in the rule of law. We are aware of setting undue speech norms, and want to refrain from doing so. As there is strong consensus on al-Qaeda, IS and their affiliates in these designation lists, we therefore stress that we follow the legal designation from various democratic nation states and supranational institutions – which the below infographic demonstrates.

Islamic Designation Chart

Designation under a synonym or umbrella group or by affiliation

IS provinces are sometimes designated under their new name (for example Islamic State Sinai Province), whilst at other times, they are designated under their former name (such as Jemaah Islamiyah). Since central IS command is designated by all countries and bodies consulted when developing our policy, and propaganda from these provinces gets disseminated through central IS propaganda channels, we have decided to include all recognised IS provinces in the first version of the TCAP and identify them by their province names.

Inclusion of far-right organisations content on the TCAP

As stated with our policy on the inclusion of Islamist groups, the TCAP is grounded in the rule of law and therefore follows the legal designation of terrorist groups by democratic nation states and supranational institutions. The infographic below summarises which far-right organisations are currently designated by these democratic entities, and therefore, included in the first version of the TCAP.

  • Blood and Honour

  • National Action

  • Combat 18

  • Sonnenkrieg Division (SKD)

  • Scottish Dawn

  • National Socialist Anti-Capitalist Action (NS131)

  • System Resistance Network (SRN)

  • Feuerkrieg Division

  • Atomwaffen Division (AWD)

  • National Socialist Order (NSO)

  • Russian Imperial Movement

  • The Base

  • Proud Boys

Far Right Designation Chart

We closely follow the designation of further violent far-right organisations, and will include any new designated organisations in the TCAP as soon as they are legally designated by the above democratic institutions and nation states.

TCAP Support for the Christchurch Call to Action

To commit to the Christchurch Call to Action, the TCAP will expand its inclusion policy to include material produced by Christchurch attack, who last year was designated by the New Zealand government. The TCAP will alert material directly produced by the attacker to tech companies, including the manifesto and copies of the livestream of the attack. In cases where content is either a direct translation or an audio version of the manifesto, we will also alert such content to tech companies.

Future direction

We envision updates along the following lines in future:

  • Expanding scope to include proscribed terrorist groups from other ideological strands

  • Increasing the remit of Islamist and far-right terrorist groups in line with updated designations as well as our own, and external, ongoing analysis

  • Including supporter-generated material as well as official centrally-communicated content

  • Expanding the TCAP to include other lone-actor terrorist attackers’ online manifestos, content, and livestreams. -