Highlights:

• ISD Uncovers Substantial Online Jihadist Cache:  BBC Click
• Lens on Hate is launched: ISD’s weekly briefing on online hate during the US 2020 elections
• Launch of London’s Shared Endeavour Fund

Speaking engagements:

• Webinar: Current and Future Terrorist Threats and Trends, Institute for Economics and Peace
• Webinar: Mapping Conspiracy Theories During COVID-19, Tinfoil Trust
• Webinar: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and Israel/Palestine, FODIP

ISD in the Media:

• CNN.com: ISD’s Farah Pandith on what we’ve learned 19 years after the September 11th attacks.
• BBC Click: ISD’s Moustafa Ayad and Carl Miller discuss the finding of the largest ISIS digital archive online
• The Real Story, BBC World Service: ISD’s Aoife Gallagher joins a panel of experts to discuss whether QAnon is a harmless online fantasy or a dangerous threat to truth, democracy and public safety around the world.

Highlights

• Hosting the Holohoax: A Snapshot of Holocaust Denial Across Social Media
• ISD identifies pro-Chinese Communist Party Twitter networks
• How QAnon gained traction: The Genesis of a Conspiracy Theory

Speaking engagements:

• Webinar: France under attack: Responses to information manipulations around Covid-19, Institut Montaigne
• Webinar: In the Streets and Online – Peace, human security and civil unrest after COVID-19, London School of Economics
• Webinar: Supporting African youth in the COVID-19 era, Global Peace Foundation

ISD in the Media:

• The Stream, Al Jazeera: ISD’s Moustafa Ayad and Amar Amarasingam discuss the ways ISIS are resurging amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Scope, Indus News: ISD’s Zahed Amanullah speaks to Pakistan’s Indus News on on anti-Muslim Covid-19 related racism in the UK.
• News at Ten, BBC: ISD’s Chloe Colliver speaks to BBC’s News at Ten about privacy and security concerns regarding TikTok and the Chinese government.

Highlights:

• Anatomy of a disinformation empire: Investigating NaturalNews
• An online environmental scan of right-wing extremism in Canada
• Telegram: A safe space for white supremacy?

Speaking engagements:

• ISD gives testimony on disinformation used to interfere in elections and spur division, US House Intelligence Committee
• Podcast: Aoife Gallagher, Analyst at ISD, joined the ‘Una & Andrea’s United Ireland’ to discuss the growing conspiracy group Qanon.

ISD in the Media: 

• BBC News: Chloe Colliver, head of digital policy & analysis, joined Facebook’s vice president of northern europe to discuss a growing advertising boycott over hate speech and misinformation on its platform.
• RTE: Milo Comerford, Senior Policy Manager, spoke about Ireland’s ‘new nationalists’ and their relationship to the transnational far-right.
• BBC News: Two decades on, Sasha Havlicek, CEO, discussed the difference between the War on Terror’s rhetoric and reality with Security Correspondent Frank Gardner

Highlights:

• COVID-19 Disinformation Briefing No.4
• How to support BAME communities during COVID-19
• COVID-19, Misinformation, and Anti-Muslim Violence in India

Speaking engagements:

• Podcast: Julia Ebner (Senior Research Fellow) talked to Hannah MacInnes (journalist) about what she discovered on her journey undercover in extremist circles for How To Academy

ISD in the Media:

• Financial Times, ‘EU tussle with WhatsApp highlights false information battle lines’: Chloe Colliver spoke about disinformation on social media platforms
• Deutschlandfunk Nova: Jakob Guhl spoke to this German radio station about extremism, disinformation and conspiracy theories in the context of COVID-19
• Die Welt, ‘Turn the anger in the country into money‘: Jakob Guhl spoke about the widespread speculation that social media platforms are biased against conservative voices

Highlights:

• COVID-19 Disinformation Briefing No.3

Speaking engagements: 

• Webinar: ‘Preventing Violent Extremism in the Classroom,’ SXSW

ISD in the Media: 

• POLITICO, ‘Conspiracy theorists, far-right extremists around the world seize on the pandemic’: Chloe Colliver speaks about how the transnational far-right are mobilising around COVID-19
• Jacob Davey spoke to The Guardian about how COVID-19 may be giving extremists opportunities to recruit.
• ISD spoke to The Spectator about how extremists, on all sides of the ideological spectrum, are using the pandemic to spread hateful narratives.

Highlights:

• Comparing Jihadist and Far-Right Extremist Narratives on COVID-19
• Strong Cities Network: Helping local leaders respond to COVID-19
• Education during lockdown: ISD’s digital citizenship resources

Speaking engagements: 

• ISD Investigation with BBC Click: Far-right spreads COVID-19 ‘infodemic’ on Facebook

ISD in the Media:

• ISD’s Digital Analysis Unit provided data and commentary to the New York Times for its article The Coronavirus Becomes a Battle Cry for U.S. Extremists.
• BBC News interviewed Chloe Colliver in a report examining the sources and spread of misinformation online about the pandemic.
• Sasha Havlicek (CEO) joined Damian Collins MP and journalist Edward Lucas on the Infotagion podcast to discuss state-sponsored disinformation surrounding the COVID-19 crisis.

Highlights:

• Covid 19 Briefing #2: How White Supremacists and the far-right are mobilising in the US

Speaking engagements:

• Webinar: ‘Using Social Listening to confront Covid 19,’ Skoll World Forum. Sasha Havlicek, Carl Miller, Chloe Colliver, and Zahed Amanullah explored the intersection between the current Covid 19 pandemic and the polarisation of global societies through hate and disinformation.

ISD in the Media:

• ‘Zoombombing’ Becomes a Dangerous Organized Effort – New York Times. Zahed Amanullah spoke out about his experience being ‘Zoom-bombed’ by an unidentified user sharing racist slurs and images.
• Social Media Companies Open New Front in Fight with EU – Financial Times. Chloe Colliver spoke about the need to continue to push for better regulation of social media platforms amidst Covid 19 despite their response so far.
• White Supremacist Groups Are Recruiting With Help From Coronavirus – and a Popular Messaging App – TIME. Jacob Davey on how Telegram is becoming the go-to social media platform for extremists.