TRANSPARENCY REPORT

December 2021 – November 2022

The second Transparency Report of the Terrorist Content Analytics Platform (TCAP), outlined the progress of the world’s largest alert-platform for verified terrorist content, collected in real-time. The Platform notifies technology companies of the presence of such content on their platforms.

This Transparency Report details the extent and scale of terrorist content discovered by the TCAP and how the data gathered is utilised to disrupt and understand terrorist and violent exploitation of the internet.

Summary of key findings

Between 1 December 2021 and 30 November 2022:

• Our open-source intelligence experts submitted 18,995 URLs containing terrorist content, and the TCAP sent 10,174 alerts to 57 tech companies, 82% of which is now offline. In total, 150 tech companies are registered and able to receive alerts as soon as we detect terrorist content on their platforms. We have increased the number of platforms we can alert from 114 in Year 1.

• Most of the content we have alerted has been related to Islamist terrorist entities (92% of alerts in Year 2). This is compared to 98% of alerts containing Islamist terrorist content in Year 1 of the TCAP.

• Because of alerts from the TCAP, an average of 84% of Islamist terrorist content was removed, whilst an average 61% of far-right terrorist content was removed. Compared to our previous Transparency Report, the takedown rate for Islamist terrorist content has decreased from 94% but has increased from 50% for far-right terrorist content.

• 18,048 URLs containing Islamist terrorist content were submitted to the TCAP, compared to 947 URLs containing far-right terrorist content. 9,436 alerts containing Islamist terrorist content were sent, whilst 738 alerts containing far-right terrorist content have been sent to tech companies. The discrepancy in numbers is due to the different propaganda dissemination techniques employed by far-right and Islamist terrorist groups. However, we have begun to close the gap between Islamist and far-right terrorist content submissions and alerts and this difference is smaller than in Year 1

The second Transparency Report also outlines the key policies and collection practices developed by Tech Against Terrorism to enhance the effectiveness of the Terrorist Content Analytics Platform. One key area is the expansion of our Inclusion Policy, widening the scope of entities whose official content we alert to tech companies.

The platform is developed using a transparency-by-design approach. This means that all the development work of the TCAP since its creation has ensured that we can be transparent about our actions and policies. In the online world, transparency is a vital pillar of trust between online service providers and their users.

December 2020 – November 2021

We are delighted to announce the publication of our first Transparency Report for the Terrorist Content Analytics Platform (TCAP). This report covers the first full year of the TCAP Alerts from 1 December 2020 to 30 November 2021.

Transparency is one of the core principles that the TCAP is founded on. This is the first ever Transparency Report, an initiative we aim to continue throughout the development of the TCAP. To read more about transparency reporting, you can read Tech Against Terrorism's Guidelines on Transparency Reporting here. Adam Hadley, Founder and Director of Tech Against Terrorism, said:

"This report once again confirms that terrorist groups predominantly exploit a wide range of smaller platforms, but it also shows that tech platforms will do the right thing and remove terrorist material if provided with appropriate support. This further proves that our focus has to be on providing support mechanisms to platforms to ensure positive impact.”

“The report findings showcase the urgent need for governments to improve designation of far-right terrorist groups. Unfortunately a tool like TCAP – and many tech platforms – will not be able to scale its removal of far-right terrorist content unless governments lead the way in providing legal clarity around far-right terrorism, such as via designation mechanisms."

Anne Craanen, Senior Research Analyst and TCAP Policy Lead, said:

"Transparency is a key principle at Tech Against Terrorism, and by publishing this report we hope to raise the bar in transparency in the online counterterrorism sector. Not only does this report provide valuable insights into terrorist online propaganda dissemination techniques, it also promotes trust and accountability. We encourage all tech companies, industry initiatives, and governments to be transparent about their online counterterrorism efforts"

Summary of key findings

Between 1 December 2020 and 30 November 2021:

• Our open-source intelligence experts submitted 18,958 URLs containing terrorist content, and the TCAP sent 11,074 alerts to 65 tech companies, 94% of which is now offline. In total, 114 tech companies are registered and able to receive alerts as soon as we detect terrorist content on their platforms.

• 18,787 URLs containing Islamist terrorist content have been submitted to the TCAP, compared to 170 URLs containing far-right terrorist content. 10,959 alerts containing Islamist terrorist content were sent, whilst 115 alerts containing far-right terrorist content have been sent to tech companies.

• Tech platforms generally remove more Islamist terrorist content than far-right terrorist content as a result of our alerts. The average removal rate by tech companies following alerts of Islamist terrorist content is 94%, whereas the average removal rate of far-right terrorist content is 50%.

• Platforms providing link shortening, photo sharing, video hosting, and audio streaming services, as well as web hosting platforms, are most responsive and have removed 100% of verified terrorist content notified via the TCAP. Archiving platforms are the least responsive to our alerts, with 59% of alerted content being removed.

To read the full report, click here