Teacher's Union boss Prez schools Tom Cotton: 'Is this a new hateful homophobic slur?'

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
November 02, 2021

Tom Cotton (Fox News Screen grab)

U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) is under fire after attacking Randi Weingarten, the president of the nation's second-largest teachers' union, claiming she is not a mother and therefore should not have anything to do with children.

Throwing support to Republican Glenn Youngkin, the GOP nominee for governor of Virginia, Fox News' Bill Hemmer attacked Randi "Weingartener," mispronouncing the veteran labor leader's name.

Calling Weingarten a "target," Hemmer told Cotton that Democratic Virginia gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe had the American Federation of Teachers' president on stage on Monday.

"What's that tell you?" Hemmer asked.

After slamming McAuliffe, Cotton went on to attack Weingarten.

"Randi Weingarten is a joke," Cotton told the Fox News host.

"Randi Weingarten does not even have children of her own. What the hell does she know about raising and teaching kids?" Cotton asked, falsely claiming she "shut down schools for two years" because of COVID. Cotton also appeared to suggest having children in the home was too difficult.

Weingarten did not hesitate to blast the Arkansas Republican.

"Wait…Did I misread this or did Tom Cotton just say any teacher who is not also a parent shouldn't be able to teach?" she tweeted. "Really? Is he now disqualifying every nun from teaching? Or is this simply a new divisive & hateful homophobic slur against LGBTQ teachers?"

The 63-year old Democrat who is a lawyer, a former teacher, a lesbian, and married wasn't finished.

"I guess Sen Cotton hasn't done his homework and doesn't know I have step-children, grandkids & nieces and nephews. They would certainly be surprised by his comments. As would the many students I taught ( and loved) at Clara Barton High School in Brooklyn," she added.

"Millions of people who raise and teach and care for America's children are not parents. Parents everywhere rely on their expertise. Parents everywhere rely on the profound commitment we all must have to other people's children, their health, well-being, and potential," Weingarten, proving her educator bona fides, continued schooling Cotton.

"We owe them- teachers who are parents, and teachers who are not parents- our thanks, not insults," Weingarten added. "Parents and educators are partners, and must work together to help our kids thrive… stop the dog whistles Tom and help us help our kids recover."

Engineer’s insurers argue they shouldn’t be on hook for millions in Surfside condo collapse

2021/11/3
© Miami Herald

Rescue workers continue to look through rubble for survivors at the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South Condo building in Surfside, Florida, on July 3, 2021. - Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/TNS

MIAMI — Soon after the deadly collapse of a Surfside condo tower, dozens of victims and their relatives started filing lawsuits accusing the building’s condo association and its engineering consultant of causing the tragedy because they failed to keep the oceanfront structure safe.

Now two major insurance companies are using that same argument to deny huge coverage claims by Morabito Consultants, which was hired by the Champlain Towers South condo association to inspect the 12-story building and come up with a structural renovation plan long before it partially fell down in June.

To support their refusal to provide potentially tens of millions of dollars in coverage, the two insurers have sued Morabito and cited allegations in lawsuits filed by the very people hoping to collect on that insurance. The insurers’ suits argue the Champlain tower deaths and property losses were caused by the consulting firm’s “negligence,” including “acts or omissions in connection” with providing “professional engineering services.”

In response, Morabito Consultants have sued National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford and Continental Casualty Company, claiming that they did provide professional services, completed a 2018 structural safety report and produced a restoration plan that was just getting under way before the Champlain tower partially collapsed.

With limited funds to divide among the 98 people who died and the 136 owners who lost their units, the escalating dispute over the consultant’s insurance coverage could make a substantial difference in how much money the victims of Champlain Towers South can collect in damages from the June building collapse.

Both the victims and their lawyers involved in individual and class-action cases are closely following the legal battle between Morabito Consultants and its insurers, National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford and Continental Casualty Company. Both insurers have not only rejected Morabito’s insurance claims but also those of the Champlain Towers South condo association, which was covered under the engineering firm’s policy too.

The two insurers’ refusal to honor their policies with the Champlain condo association under Morabito’s coverage stands in stark contrast to several other insurance companies that have already agreed to pay in full the association’s property damage and personal injury claims, totaling about $50 million.

A spokesman for Morabito Consultants, Brett Marcy, blasted the two insurers for denying the claims. The engineering company “believes all relevant and necessary parties should be included in any litigation related to insurance coverage,” he said. “That includes the condo association and those parties representing the victims.”

The leaders of a team of lawyers in the Champlain class-action case, though adversaries of Morabito and the condo association, agreed with that approach.

“Insurance proceeds are critical to compensate the victims of this tragedy,” said Miami attorneys Harley Tropin and Rachel Furst, who are among the team of lawyers heading the class-action case against the Champlain condo association. “The insurance companies that insured those that played a role in causing the collapse have an obligation to honor their commitment and to provide coverage.”

Miami attorney Stephen Binhak, who represents developers with condo- and construction-related matters but is not involved in the Champlain cases, said that while the collapse of the Surfside high-rise is an extraordinary situation, the legal fight between the tower’s engineering consultant and its insurers is commonplace. Sharp differences arise not only over insurance coverage and “exclusion” provisions, but also over the amount of the payouts based on liability, caps on damages and other factors — including the number of accidents. In the Surfside case, for example, the building partially collapsed on the night of June 24 and the remaining structure was later demolished for safety reasons.

“Litigation over insurance coverage and claims is normal — you see it all the time,” Binhak said. ”Initially, there is the question of whether a policy covers a claim. If so, there is the question of how much insurance is ultimately available. Larger claims increase the chances of a lawsuit — especially when the damage may exceed the policy limits.

“After the World Trade Center collapse in 2001, with billions of dollars of insurance on the line, there was a lawsuit to determine whether the attack on the towers was a single ‘occurrence’ or two separate ‘occurrences’ for the purposes of insurance coverage,” Binhak he said. “Even with that level of insurance in place, the federal government stepped in to make funds available to compensate victims,” referring to the massive litigation that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the twin north and south World Trade Center towers.

Morabito, a Maryland-based firm, was hired in 2018 by the Champlain Towers South condo association to provide a structural safety inspection and renovation plan for the 40-year “recertification” of the 8777 Collins Ave. property. Morabito found “major structural damage” to a concrete slab in the pool area and “abundant” deterioration of garage columns supporting the condo tower, but the association did not move forward on Morabito’s restoration plan until just before the building partially collapsed.

In the aftermath, Morabito Consultants was sued by its two insurance companies, National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford and Continental Casualty Company. The companies, known together as CNA, have denied Morabito’s insurance claims and also refused to defend the engineering consultant against 19 individual lawsuits brought by Champlain Towers South condo owners. Morabito is also expected to be sued in the ongoing class-action case representing most of the victims in the condo collapse.

In their lawsuit, the two insurance companies claim that the liability coverage provided under Morabito’s policy does not apply to bodily injury or property damage “caused by the rendering or failure to render any professional service.” CNA says the coverage, dealing only with Morabito’s engineering services, is excluded from its “primary” and “umbrella” insurance policies between 2017 and 2021. Also, the insurers denied coverage to the Champlain condo association, which was added to Morabito’s policies in recent years.

CNA’s lawyers, who filed the firm’s suit in Maryland federal court, did not return phone and email messages for comment.

Morabito Consultants fired back, filing a motion to dismiss CNA’s federal suit. The consulting firm’s lawyers argue among other things that the coverage matter belongs in the Miami-Dade Circuit Court where all of the parties affected by the Champlain tower collapse are fighting over liability and damage issues.

In fact, the engineering firm filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court against its two insurance carriers as well as the Champlain condo association and the building’s individual owners who sued them. The reason: They all have an interest in Morabito’s coverage with CNA.

Morabito’s lawyers assert the insurance companies have no legal basis for denying the consulting firm’s claims for property losses and deaths in the condo collapse. They argue the firm’s engineers performed their “professional services” for the Champlain condo association and that its insurance coverage must be interpreted broadly not narrowly.

“CNA has ignored settled law governing the interpretation of insurance policies and the duty to defend and has wrongfully refused to defend Morabito against the [condo owners’] lawsuits,” Morabito’s suit says.

“Moreover, any allegations that could be construed to assert a failure to perform inspection or engineering services are contradicted by allegations that acknowledge Morabito properly performed inspection and engineering services and identified and reported serious structural issues to the [condo] association,” the suit says.

The Champlain condo building, completed in 1981, was facing a formal structural, mechanical and electrical review, as required under Miami-Dade’s building code nearly 40 years later. Morabito Consultants was hired by the condo board in 2018 and produced a nine-page inspection report, which was an initial summary of its structural findings. The estimated initial cost of repairs was heavy — $9 million — a price tag that caused dissension among board members and rose significantly to $15 million as the association delayed the repairs for almost three years. Morabito was also retained to prepare and oversee the restoration plan, which got under way starting with the replacement of the Champlain tower’s roof just before the collapse in June.

Although Morabito’s initial report did not raise an obvious red flag that the building was “unsafe” or at risk of falling down, the firm did urge Champlain’s condo board to replace and repair the deteriorating structural areas in the pool and garage areas in a “timely fashion” because the concrete problems could “expand exponentially.”

Under Miami-Dade County’s building code, “a building, or part thereof, shall be presumed to be unsafe if ... there is a deterioration of the structure or structural parts.” The ordinance further states that “the [local] Building Official, on his own initiative or as a result of reports by others, shall examine or cause to be examined every building or structure appearing or reported to be unsafe.”

But after Surfside’s building official was sent Morabito’s engineering report by a Champlain condo association member, the official met with the board after reviewing the document and assured members that “it appears the building is in very good shape,” according to minutes of a Nov. 15, 2018, board meeting.

Several structural engineers, after evaluating public records, condo plans and video footage of the collapse, told the Herald that they suspect the Surfside tower began to fall after the pool deck caved into the parking garage, which in turn undermined the structural integrity of the tower and triggered the collapse of the middle and oceanfront sections of the building. However, the exact cause of the collapse, under investigation by local and federal authorities, is still not known.

In the months after the tragedy, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman has tried to steer the litigation in the direction of recovering and raising as much money as possible to compensate the hundreds of victims — including condo owners and those who died. So far, with the help of receiver Michael Goldberg, who has taken over the Champlain condo association’s role, the judge has managed to recover $30 million in property coverage and $19 million in personal injury coverage from the association’s various insurance carriers — all of whom immediately agreed to honor their maximum policy coverage, unlike CNA, which refuses to pay out anything.

In addition, the now-vacant, nearly two-acre Surfside property fetched an initial bid from a private developer of $120 million. Higher bids could be offered for the lot, where there are plans for a luxury condo high-rise.

But dividing up those funds has been difficult because of the tragic ordeal. Hanzman assigned a mediator to figure out how to compensate both the Champlain condo owners and those who died in the collapse. But the mediator, lawyer Bruce Greer, said he has been unable to bridge the gap, with some condo owners saying they should receive all the money and the families of deceased residents saying all the funds should go to them.

Whatever money might be recovered from third parties, such as Morabito’s insurance carrier, CNA, would be added to the total pot of compensation.

“There is a heavy divide between the two sides,” said Martin Langesfeld, whose sister, Nicole, and her husband, Luis Sadovnic, died in a Champlain condo unit owned by Langesfeld’s grandparents. “They think we deserve nothing when we think we deserve everything.”

E

xcavators are seen working in the rubble of the Champlain Towers South collapse, one day after a shift from search-and-rescue to recovery in Surfside, Florida, on July 8, 2021. - Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/TNS

Progressives on Virginia loss: Corporate Democrats have only themselves to blame

Jake Johnson, Common Dreams
November 03, 2021

Governor Terry McAuliffe [Facebook]

After Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe—a conservative whose campaign was flush with billionaire cash—fell to Republican private equity mogul Glenn Youngkin in Virginia's closely watched gubernatorial race on Tuesday, establishment Democrats wasted no time pinning the blame on progressives.

The finger-pointing started days before the polls opened in Virginia, a state that has trended blue in recent years and that President Joe Biden won by 10 percentage points in 2020.

"Did progressives literally have a press conference yesterday for the sole purpose of declaring that a deal was not close? No, that was Joe Manchin."

Several conservative Democrats, including Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, suggested leading up to the contest that progressive lawmakers' refusal to allow a bipartisan infrastructure bill to pass the House without simultaneous approval of a broader reconciliation package could be at least partially to blame for a McAuliffe loss.

"I've got to tell you, in Virginia, where we've got a gubernatorial race tomorrow, that would have really helped Terry McAuliffe a lot if we had been able to notch that win," Warner—who, like McAuliffe, previously served as Virginia's governor—said in an appearance on MSNBC, referencing Democrats' inability to secure an infrastructure vote last week amid progressive opposition.

Warner expressed the same sentiment on Fox News hours before the Virginia results were reported. "I think it would have helped Terry McAuliffe in Virginia," the senator said of a vote on the $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Tester, for his part, said of his progressive colleagues: "We haven't gotten anything done. That says enough about their strategy."

The blame game resumed almost immediately following McAuliffe's narrow defeat to Youngkin, a millionaire backed by former President Donald Trump and now the first Republican to win statewide office in Virginia since 2009. Politico reporter Heather Caygle tweeted after the race was called that Democratic members of Congress "are already texting me blaming progressives for [the] 'debacle' in Virginia."

Progressives were quick to push back on that narrative, characterizing it as baseless and self-serving on the part of a Democratic establishment that threw its weight behind McAuliffe—the former chair of the Democratic National Committee—in the Virginia gubernatorial primary earlier this year.

Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible, noted that "progressives have been earnestly working to deliver on Biden's full agenda. It's conservative Dems who've ensured that every day for the last several months, the headlines are about how we aren't delivering paid leave, prescription drug reform, elder care, or voting rights."

"Did progressives literally have a press conference yesterday for the sole purpose of declaring that a deal was not close? No, that was Joe Manchin," Greenberg continued. "Progressives were busy trying to pass Biden's agenda. As far as I'm aware, progressives also did not choose McAuliffe over a new generation of rising Black women leaders, nor did they run his campaign and choose his messaging, nor did they write his debate lines."

"I don't want to play the blame game. I'd rather be focusing on what to do next (hint: pass Biden's agenda)," Greenberg added. "But folks have been working overtime to seed this narrative before the election was even over and it's important that we be clear: it's a ridiculous red herring."

Other prominent progressives also weighed in.

Warren Gunnels, majority staff director for Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), tweeted that "maybe, just maybe, the 'debacle' in Virginia could have been avoided if we had a Congress that listened to the overwhelming majority of Americans and passed progressive policies like paid family leave and expanding Medicare instead of bowing down to wealthy campaign contributors."

Charles Idelson of National Nurses United lamented that "any time a Democrat loses, the party establishment, with the help of the corporate media, always blames progressives, no matter how weak or 'centrist' the losing candidate is, and no matter how much the Dem conservatives block reforms that would help the vast majority of people."

Writing for The Daily Beast late Tuesday, Democratic strategist Max Burns observed that Youngkin's campaign "centered around the bogeyman of 'Critical Race Theory,'" not the lack of a timely vote on a bipartisan infrastructure package that Trump and other Republicans have trashed.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, made a similar point earlier this week. "I've watched all the attack ads on Terry McAuliffe and not a single one has talked about [infrastructure] not passing," she said Monday. "They've all been about other things."

In his Daily Beast column, Burns argued that "the worst thing that could possibly happen... is for the party's conservatives to read McAuliffe's loss as a sign that Americans are turned off by the Democratic agenda."

Alluding to fears that the Virginia race is a harbinger for Democratic performance in the 2022 midterm elections, Burns wrote that "there's one simple trick to averting a Democratic bloodbath next year: Do what voters say they want."

"A Vox/Data for Progress poll conducted last month found 71% of voters support raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, and six-in-ten support Biden's signature spending plan at the full $3.5 trillion. These aren't mere 'suggestion' numbers—they're supermajorities. Democrats ignore those clearly stated wishes at their own electoral peril."

LAPD forced to protect comic book artists after anti-LGBTQ fans freak over bisexual Superman: report

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
November 02, 2021

Photo by LOGAN WEAVER on Unsplash

It's just a comic book but for some it's yet another entry into a changing world they just cannot handle.

On National Coming Out Day last month DC Comics announced Superman is a proud member of the LGBTQ community. In the latest storyline, Superman's son Jonathan, who is taking over for dear old dad, comes out as bisexual, and will share a kiss with his friend/boyfriend Jay Nakamura.

DC Comics recently was forced to ask the Los Angeles Police Dept. to provide protection to some of its artists and the studio itself after it reported threats LAPD deemed "credible." There is no indication of what those threats actually were or who made them.

"LAPD officers were recently dispatched to patrol the homes of some of the illustrators/production staffers who created the latest iteration of Superman. The extra protection comes after major backlash that included some so-called fans making threats," TMZ reports. "We're told the pissed-off comic book readers inundated the studios to voice their displeasure with the character's newly-announced sexuality."

One angry and apparently flustered Arizona Republican state Senator, Wendy Rogers, was so triggered she tweeted, “Superman loves Lois Lane. Period. Hollywood is trying to make Superman gay and he is not."

She further embarrassed herself by using a bigoted and homophobic lisp “joke," saying, “Just rename the whole version Thooperman."

Image by Chris Yarzab via Flickr and a CC license

Extremism expert warns that unhappy QAnon believers are now being lured into far-right extremist groups

Chauncey Devega, Salon
November 03, 2021

Via Sandy Huffaker/AFP

LONG READ

America's mainstream news media has a short attention span, which has certainly played to the advantage of the long-running Republican-fascist assault on democracy (and on reality). Of late, the media has grown bored with QAnon, the antisemitic and racist conspiracy cult which claims to believes that a secret cabal of pedophile Democrats and other members of the "deep state" run the world — and gain superpowers from kidnapping and killing children and then ingesting their vital essence. In this demented worldview, only Donald Trump and other "patriots" can save America and the world.

It appears that QAnon followers played a significant role in the attack on the Capitol and coup attempt on Jan. 6. No leaders of that coup plot have been apprehended or punished, and most of the foot soldiers have received relatively lenient punishment to this point. President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland appear reluctant to apply the full power of the law to punish Donald Trump, along with his allies, operatives and followers.

QAnon followers are also attempting to undermine American democracy and civil society by infiltrating such "vulnerable" sites as local school boards, library committees and other ground-level institutions of local and state government. Their purported goal may be to ban the teaching of "critical race theory" (which is not taught in public schools), but the real goal is larger: to enforce punishment of "unpatriotic" thoughtcrimes, and to mainstream right-wing conspiracy theories and other lies about American history.

QAnon followers are also seeking to become election officials, where they are planning to use the fervor around Trump's Big Lie and other conspiracy theories to rig election results, overthrow multiracial democracy and replace it with one-party Republican rule.

In an article posted last June, the National Education Association explored the QAnon-fueled "radicalization" of school boards in communities all over America:

In a small town in Washington State, the newly elected mayor calls QAnon, "a truth movement," and recently fired the town's skeptical city manager. In coastal San Luis Obispo, California, a school board trustee's Facebook posts include a QAnon video, misinformation about COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter, and promotion of the ex-gay, conversion movement. She won, says the town's mayor, who is calling for her resignation, because "people had no idea this was going on," and didn't have the "bandwidth to research the school board election," reports the local newspaper, the Tribune.

Meanwhile, in Florida, a newly elected county sheriff is now explaining why he posed for photos last year with a supporter in a "We are Q" t-shirt.

Across the county, conspiracy theorists and proponents of fake news are winning local elections. And their new positions give them a powerful voice in everything from local law enforcement to libraries, trash pickup to textbook purchases.

QAnon followers are also gaining influence and power within white Christian evangelical churches and other faith communities. This is integral to the worsening radicalization of white Christianity and the threat of a right-wing "holy war" against Democrats, liberals, progressives, Black and brown people and anyone else who believes in the separation of church and state, or who holds values and beliefs deemed "un-American" or "anti-Christian."

Public opinion polls and other research show that a large percentage of Republicans and Trump followers say they believe in at least portions of the outlandish QAnon fantasy and — not coincidentally — are also willing to support right-wing political violence to protect their "traditional way of life" and "save the country." This includes removing President Joe Biden from office by violent means if deemed necessary.

Matthew Rozsa of Salon summarized these findings this week:

New public opinion research from the nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute, part of its 12th annual American Values Survey, has returned alarming findings.

Close to one-third of Republicans in the survey, or 30%, agreed with the statement that "true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country." That was more than the combined total of Democrats and independents who say the same thing (at 11% and 17%, respectively).

PRRI CEO and founder Robert Jones said the large proportion of Republicans who appear ready to endorse political violence is "a direct result of former President Trump calling into question the election." Jones noted that according to the same survey, more than two-thirds of Republicans (68%) claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump, as opposed to only 26% of independents and 6% of Democrats.

The study also found that 39% of those who believed that Trump had won the 2020 election endorsed potential violence, compared to only 10% of those who rejected election misinformation. There were also signs of a split based on media consumption, with 40% of Republicans who trust far-right news sources agreeing that violence could be necessary, compared to 32% of those who trust Fox News and 22% among those who trust mainstream outlets. In addition, respondents who said violence may be necessary are more likely to report feeling like strangers in their country, to say American culture has mostly worsened since the 1950s and to believe that God has granted America a special role in human history.

Sophia Moskalenko is a social psychologist and expert on conspiracy theories, radicalization and extremism. She is currently a research fellow at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (NC-START) and is the author of several books, including "Friction: How Radicalization Happens to Them and Us" and "The Marvel of Martyrdom: The Power of Self-Sacrifice in the Selfish World." Her new book, with co-author Mia Bloom, is "Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon."

In this conversation Moskalenko discusses the dangers QAnon poses to American democracy and national security. She explains that QAnon is a community where overwhelmingly white and often socially alienated followers find fellowship and meaning as they are radicalized into extremism and other potentially dangerous antisocial behavior. In her view, QAnon functions as a space that nurtures and satisfies white fantasies of right-wing masculinity, femininity, violence and heroism about "protecting" children and reasserting "traditional values".

Toward the end of this conversation, Moskalenko explains what she would tell Joe Biden and other senior members of the administration about the threats posed by right-wing terrorism, as well as about the ways hostile foreign powers are using disinformation and other forms of propaganda to weaken American democracy and society.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

You are an expert on terrorism and other forms of political extremism. You are also an expert on propaganda and disinformation. How are you feeling right now, given America's democracy crisis?

I've been feeling a little bit like Cassandra, the woman in Troy who was yelling as loud as he could about the city falling to ruin, and everybody was laughing at her. Then of course her warnings came true. It doesn't feel good. There was so much attention being paid to Islamic terrorism after 9/11. Unfortunately, there was not enough attention being paid to the trends right here in the United States domestically. This was all very alarming for somebody such as me who is an expert on terrorism and radicalization. These trends pointed to how right-wing groups were attracting more people and carrying out more and more lethal attacks.

There were people in positions of power and influence here in the United States who were beginning to pander increasingly to these groups. And of course, Trump's presidency was a type of pinnacle for that behavior. Those appeals to right-wing extremist groups are now crystallized in congressional representatives who are outspoken supporters of QAnon conspiracy theories.

There was also Trump's line after the riots in Charlottesville about "good people on both sides," which implies that maybe Nazis aren't so bad. This problem has been developing for a long time.

When you looked at the events of Jan. 6, what did you see? What jumped out at you?

I'm a psychologist, so I focused on the emotions that I observed in the faces, the screams and the actions of the Trump followers who were there that day at the Capitol.

It was just striking to me how angry and violent and ready to inflict serious damage a lot of those people were. On Jan. 6, I saw a huge crowd of people who look just like my neighbors but who were acting in a very threatening and menacing way. It was disturbing. I also, of course, saw many QAnon symbols and antisemitic symbols and other references to hate groups.

I was also struck by the composition of the people at the Capitol on Jan. 6. They were very diverse in terms of age and gender. From the Arab Spring to images from the Ukrainian revolution or Georgian revolution, we mostly see men carrying out these mass radical actions. But on Jan. 6 at the Capitol, we saw a lot of women. There were many young people and also people in their 60s and 70s. That is very unusual, in many ways, as far as radical movements go.

There were various right-wing extremist groups and other forces involved in the events of Jan. 6. What role did QAnon conspiracy believers play?

We know that between 10% and 20% of people present at the Jan. 6 insurrection were members of right-wing militia groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and Three Percenters. A sizable proportion of those groups also consisted of active-duty military or veterans. Those militia groups also include active or retired police.

As for QAnon members, after Jan. 6 when the prophecy about Trump's return was unfulfilled, a number of QAnon followers became disenchanted. They went back online looking for answers, like they did before they found QAnon. Now they are looking for something else.

There was a concerted effort by the right-wing extremist groups to bring them in, because they were like lost sheep. The way these groups and individuals talk about the QAnon types is very dismissive. They call them idiots. They call the QAnon prophecy nonsense. But they felt this was an opportunity to recruit a bunch of disenchanted QAnoners into their ranks.

We know that both QAnon and the right-wingers I am discussing here are very antisemitic and racist. Whatever they may say about it, we know from the data we have collected from their own materials that they express clearly antisemitic and racist attitudes. In that aspect there is an overlap, at least psychologically, between QAnon and these right-wing extremists.

"I am Q." We see that language everywhere among the QAnon believers. What is the meaning?

"Q" is a mysterious person, or likely several people. This person or persons has "Q-level" government clearance, which indicates they are supposedly quite high in America's intelligence hierarchy. So while a given person may claim to be "Q," another way of thinking about the meaning of "Q" is that it is an expression of a larger identity. We are in the era of identity politics. Wearing some clothing that announces that one believes in QAnon is a way of projecting that membership and identity.

Wearing that symbol is also a way to connect to other QAnon followers. Because again, especially at these mass rallies or events, people come there for many different reasons, including a shared emotional experience, whether it's rage or hope or even fear. That is the attraction of being together with all these other people who are experiencing the same emotions – even if they are negative emotions. It's a way of establishing your tribe. In a rapidly changing world where we often do not know who our neighbors are, it can be very isolating and very unsettling to not have a tribe.

Carrying something like a big letter "Q" on your chest or over your head is likely an attempt to feel connected with other people who believe similar things.

One key aspect of QAnon is how it is a space for white male fantasies of power, home and family, and about using violence to "protect" children, women, faith and community. QAnon is also a space for fantasies about a particular type of white womanhood and femininity.

Much of QAnon behavior and beliefs are rooted in entertainment. In fact, they borrowed many of their tropes from traditional folklore, like vampires and witches, and also from Hollywood movies. Experimental research has shown that people are compelled to conspiracy theories because they are a lot better at eliciting strong emotions. Some people seek out conspiracy theories because they offer a chance to feel fear, like a horror movie, or anger, such as in a revenge movie.

At the same time, QAnon fills a void that was created when single-earner households where the dad goes to work and the mom stays home in her white little apron were increasingly not viable for most Americans. Such an idea, that a lot of white middle-class men and women grew up with, is no longer available to them. What is left behind are feelings of disillusionment, anger, grievance.

Of course, many of these grievances are then redirected by these QAnon or right-wing narratives more broadly towards immigrants who are supposedly taking the good jobs or taking money out of the economy that would have been enough to make the American dream possible for "real" Americans. Channeling that anger into a hatred toward minorities or immigrants is one way to make sense of their new reality.

QAnon is also a fantasy of action and about the ability of individuals to have agency in their own lives — albeit in delusional, dangerous and unhealthy ways. For example, this deranged belief that children are being held hostage by evil forces who drink their blood is likely to encourage people to get their weapons and go save them. How do these QAnon fantasies play out on the individual level?

QAnon really grew in power and popularity when the George Floyd protests and Black Lives Matter protests were also becoming more prominent. For a lot of women, it was an uncomfortable political conversation that they did not feel ready to have. This idea about saving children then became a safe political alternative for white suburban women to discuss. In their minds, who wouldn't want to save the children?

These QAnon "save the children" ads often portray white children who are being held roughly or muzzled by dark hands. It's a man of color holding this child. This is in contrast to the real Save the Children charity's posters, which overwhelmingly depict children from African and Asian countries who are smiling and laughing in the pictures. By comparison, the QAnon pictures show horrified, abused and generally unkempt kids who elicit sympathy and distress by their appearance alone.

These QAnon "save the children" ads are just a kind of placeholder, I believe, to project their racial discomfort and political beliefs with people who feel the same way — and to do without really calling things by their actual name.

How do you assess the Republican Party and the larger right-wing movement's use of stochastic terrorism? Are we at a tipping point where that stochastic terrorism could become direct encouragements to violence against "the enemy"?

I believe that we are past the tipping point. Hate speech has been increasing for a number of years. I published a book in 2018 where I traced trends for hate speech online, including on Facebook and Twitter. There was a very sizable increase since before the 2016 election, with hate speech becoming more and more prevalent.

For example, the rise of Nazism involved the use of dehumanizing language and other propaganda comparing Jewish people and others to vermin and cockroaches. Jews were depicted as being less than human, which makes it easier to call on people to exterminate them.

The language used by the Nazis might sound familiar in the present because it's also what we hear from places like OAN or Fox News about immigrants, especially in the context of COVID. As seen with the increasing number of attacks against the Asian and Asian American communities, we can see how such hate speech has an impact.

The question is now whether we will see more mass events such as the Jan. 6 insurrection, which require coordination, movement across the country, money and other resources. I am really hoping that the authorities who are tasked with preventing another such event are doing their jobs.

Donald Trump and his spokespeople and other agents have created a martyrs out of his follower who was killed by law enforcement in the Capitol on Jan. 6. The Trumpists and right-wing propaganda media are now referring to members of Trump's attack force as "political prisoners," who are by implication innocent and heroic. How do you explain to the public the importance of this narrative and the political work it is doing?

This is a classic move. We saw it in Nazi Germany. We also saw it in the Soviet Union. Mythologized martyrdoms manufactured sometimes literally out of nothing. In Nazi Germany before World War II, they created a fake martyr out of a man named Horst Wessel. He became a huge martyr, and it was completely fabricated.

Martyrdoms in general are a hugely potent mass radicalization weapon. A martyr always inspires followers who will make self-sacrifices of their own. And it always challenges opponents to prove that their values are not morally bankrupt and that they too can pay the cost in blood to support the cause they believe in. There is always conflict in the wake of a martyrdom, including a fake martyrdom.

What Donald Trump and his spokespeople are doing is capitalizing on the potential of right-wing martyrdom. Whether or not this is going to catch on like Horst Wessel's did depends on how ready the public is to carry the banner of fake martyrdom. Because any martyrdom is always a symphony between the individual and the public, even a true martyr will not inspire followers if they are not ready to make sacrifices in the name of the cause.

A fake martyr, on the other hand, can appeal to millions, as in Nazi Germany or in Soviet Union, if they are ready to jump on the bandwagon and express their rage in the name of the martyr.

What are you most concerned about in this crisis and going forward?

I am most concerned about mass radicalization and the related hatred and intolerance.

What advice would you give President Biden and other senior leadership?

Try not to pay attention to red herrings. Things like QAnon are a red herring. Try to not lose the forest for the trees. We have a massive right-wing radicalization problem in the United States where the followers are mobilized and armed and actively training. They have military or police training. They are also actively recruiting from those ranks. The resources should be going to confront that problem.

Do not discount the influence of malicious foreign actors, such as Russia and China. They are a lot more experienced with the weaponization of information and concocting propaganda narratives that are going to spread like wildfire and sow discord and mobilize people. The United States needs to catch up with their capabilities in that regard, and to protect ourselves in a way that we are not doing right now.

We need to do better with the social media giants about holding them accountable for what is taking place on their platforms. That means we need to demand that they become a lot more transparent, such as by sharing how they use algorithms and who they allow to dominate the discourse. At the moment, it's a complete black box. We need to hold those huge business entities responsible. They're like a type of public square — they need to be regulated.

U.S. blacklists Israeli hacking tool vendor NSO Group

2021/11/3
© Reuters


By Christopher Bing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Commerce Department added Israel's NSO Group and Candiru to its trade blacklist on Wednesday, saying they sold spyware to foreign governments that used the equipment to target government officials, journalists and others.

Positive Technologies of Russia, and Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE LTD, from Singapore, were also listed. The Department said they trafficked in cyber tools used to gain unauthorized access to computer networks.

The companies' addition to the list, for engaging in activities contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests, means that exports to them from U.S counterparts are restricted. It for instance makes it far harder for U.S. security researchers to sell them information about computer vulnerabilities.

"We are not taking action against countries or governments where these entities are located," said a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department.

Suppliers will need to apply for a license before selling to them, which is likely to be denied.

In the past, the NSO Group and Candiru have been accused of selling hacking tools to authoritarian regimes. NSO says it only sells its products to law enforcement and intelligence agencies and takes steps to curb abuse.

'DISMAYED'

An NSO spokesperson said the company was "dismayed" by the decision since its technologies "support U.S. national security interests and policies by preventing terrorism and crime, and thus we will advocate for this decision to be reversed."

NSO will present information regarding its "rigorous" compliance and human rights programs, "which already resulted in multiple terminations of contacts with government agencies that misused our products," the spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement to Reuters.

The Israeli defence ministry, which grants export licenses to NSO, declined to comment on the matter.

Contact information for Candiru was not available.

The Biden administration imposed sanctions on Positive Technologies, a Russian cybersecurity firm, this year for providing support to Russian security services. The company denies any wrongdoing.

Positive Technologies said the new sanctions will not affect their business and will not prevent the company from a planned public listing.

"We do not know on what grounds the U.S. Commerce Department added us to the list," General Director Denis Baranov said in an emailed comment.

"Anyway we repelled sanction risks earlier and they do not pose additional threats for us now," he wrote.

Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE LTD, also known as COSEINC, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A former U.S. official familiar with Positive Technologies, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the firm had helped establish computer infrastructure used in Russian cyberattacks on U.S. organizations.

COSEINC founder Thomas Lim is known for organizing a security conference, named SyScan, which was sold https://tsyrklevich.net/2015/07/22/hacking-team-0day-market to Chinese technology firm Qihoo 360, a sanctioned entity. An email published https://wikileaks.org/hackingteam/emails/emailid/695766 by WikiLeaks in 2015 suggested Lim had also previously offered to sell hacking tools to infamous Italian spyware vendor HackingTeam.

Lim did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to a social media account he owns.

Export control experts say the designation could have a far broader impact on the listed companies than simply limiting their access to U.S. technology.

"Many companies choose to avoid doing business with listed entities completely in order to eliminate the risk of an inadvertent violation and the costs of conducting complex legal analyses," said Kevin Wolf, former assistant secretary of Commerce for Export Administration during the Obama administration.

The entity list was increasingly used for national security and foreign policy aims during the Trump administration. Chinese telecom company Huawei was added in 2019, cutting it off from some key U.S. suppliers and making it difficult for them to produce mobile handsets.

(Reporting by Christopher Bing in Washington

Additional reporting by Steven Scheer in Jerusalem and Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow

Editing by William Maclean, Gareth Jones and Matthew Lewis)

WELCOME TO THE METAVERSE

New Monster Hunter attraction at Universal Studios Japan lets you hunt monsters in VR

Casey Baseel

Free-walk VR game gives you your choice of Monster Hunter weapons to swing as you track and fight Velkhana.

Though the original concept behnd Universal Studios Japan was to be a place where guests can enjoy movie magic, the Osaka theme park has also become one of the country’s coolest destination for video game fans.

Last spring saw the grand opening of the park’s Super Nintendo World expansion, and last month we found out it’s going to be growing even bigger to welcome another Nintendo star. Then at the start of October came word of a separate partnership between USJ and the Pokémon Company.

Universal Studios isn’t in any mood to ease up on the gamer-oriented accelerator, either, as they’ve just announced their newest project: a team-up with Capcom’s smash hit Monster Hunter franchise. It’s a VR attraction, but instead of being a headset-supporting roller coaster or theater show, USJ is giving fans what they really want: the ability to grab weapons and hunt some monsters!



Monster Hunter World: Iceborne XR Walk is the first attraction for USJ’s new XR Walk, a free-walking virtual reality system and venue (i.e. you’re actually walking around it, not sitting in a chair and pressing a “walk” button).

Together with up to three other players in your party, you’re cast as recent arrivals as the game’s Seliana base. After another hunter comes back to the guild after suffering heavy injuries, your team heads out to rescue his comrades who are still out there in the Hoarfrost Reach, traversing snowfields and caves as you gather items, search for tracks, and try to find the survivors.

Naturally, you’ll be armed, and you get your choice from among a selection of iconic Monster Hunter weaponry such as a great sword, long sword, hammer, switch axe, or heavy bowgun, which respond with a feeling of impact when they strike their targets. Gusts of wind are another promised physical element… or maybe the blasts of air are from a monster’s roar. Of course, you won’t find the hunters you’re looking for without encountering some hostile wildlife too, and USJ promises a climactic showdown with the elder dragon Velkhana.

▼ Velkhana

One possible concern for preexisting Monster Hunter fans is that an attraction like this, in trying to appeal to a broad audience of theme park visitors, might not provide as much challenge as the games themselves do. However, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne XR Walk also has a scoring system, so it’s not just a question of whether or not you can complete the quest, but how well you can complete it, which should make for an exciting challenge regardless of individual skill level.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne XR Walk will have its preliminary opening on January 21 ahead of a full launch in March, and will be in service until August 28.

Source: PR Times (1, 2) via Otakomu
Featured image: PR Times
Top, insert image: PR Times

Software flaws, prep for future vulnerabilities

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is ordering federal agencies to patch nearly 300 known, exploited vulnerabilities 


The DHS and CISA booth at the 2019 RSA conference in San Francisco.

 (Scoop News Group photo)

Written by Tim Starks
NOV 3, 2021 | CYBERSCOOP

It’s a change from past practice for Binding Operational Directives from the Department of Homeland Security’s main cyber wing. The orders have focused more frequently on one major vulnerability at a time, or has directed agencies to set up broader policies addressing subjects like establishing vulnerability disclosure programs. As rationale, the agency pointed to issues in Microsoft Exchange technology that suspected Chinese hackers seized upon to target victims worldwide in early 2021.

Under the order, agencies must patch vulnerabilities from a CISA-created catalog by dates that range from two weeks for flaws observed this year to six months for those prior. Further, agencies must build a process for fixing such vulnerabilities on an ongoing basis in the future.

CISA said the directive is a response to its belief that the widely adhered-to Common Vulnerability Scoring System that ranks vulnerabilities from “critical” to “low” doesn’t always accurately depict a given threat, citing one of this year’s most widespread intrusions.

“Attackers chained four vulnerabilities, all subsequently rated as ‘high,’ to successfully exploit Microsoft Exchange servers,” the agency explained. “This methodology, known as ‘chaining,’ uses small vulnerabilities to first gain a foothold, then exploits additional vulnerabilities to escalate privilege on an incremental basis.”

Binding Operational Directives only have authority over the federal government. But CISA, an agency increasingly at the center of debates about whether it should have more regulatory authority, has used them as explicit leverage to try to pressure the private sector and others to adopt their approach.

“Every day, our adversaries are using known vulnerabilities to target federal agencies,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly. “While this Directive applies to federal civilian agencies, we know that organizations across the country, including critical infrastructure entities, are targeted using these same vulnerabilities. It is therefore critical that every organization adopt this Directive and prioritize mitigation of vulnerabilities listed in CISA’s public catalog.”

Clearview AI ordered to delete all facial recognition data belonging to Australians

The company breached Australian privacy law

By James Vincent Nov 3, 2021,

Controversial facial recognition firm Clearview AI has been ordered to destroy all images and facial templates belonging to individuals living in Australia by the country’s national privacy regulator.

Clearview, which claims to have scraped 10 billion images of people from social media sites in order to identify them in other photos, sells its technology to law enforcement agencies. It was trialled by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) between October 2019 and March 2020.

Now, following an investigation, Australia privacy regulator, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), has found that the company breached citizens’ privacy. “The covert collection of this kind of sensitive information is unreasonably intrusive and unfair,” said OAIC privacy commissioner Angelene Falk in a press statement. “It carries significant risk of harm to individuals, including vulnerable groups such as children and victims of crime, whose images can be searched on Clearview AI’s database.”

“WHEN AUSTRALIANS USE SOCIAL MEDIA OR PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING SITES, THEY DON’T EXPECT THEIR FACIAL IMAGES TO BE COLLECTED WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT”

Said Falk: “When Australians use social media or professional networking sites, they don’t expect their facial images to be collected without their consent by a commercial entity to create biometric templates for completely unrelated identification purposes. The indiscriminate scraping of people’s facial images, only a fraction of whom would ever be connected with law enforcement investigations, may adversely impact the personal freedoms of all Australians who perceive themselves to be under surveillance.”

The investigation into Clearview’s practices by the OAIC was carried out in conjunction with the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). However, the ICO has yet to make a decision about the legality of Clearview’s work in the UK. The agency says it is “considering its next steps and any formal regulatory action that may be appropriate under the UK data protection laws.”

As reported by The Guardian, Clearview itself intends to appeal the decision. “Clearview AI operates legitimately according to the laws of its places of business,” Mark Love, a lawyer for the firm BAL Lawyers representing Clearview, told the publication. “Not only has the commissioner’s decision missed the mark on the manner of Clearview AI’s manner of operation, the commissioner lacks jurisdiction.”

Clearview argues that the images it collected were publicly available, so no breach of privacy occurred, and that they were published in the US, so Australian law does not apply.

Around the world, though, there is growing discontent with the spread of facial recognition systems, which threaten to eliminate anonymity in public spaces. Yesterday, Facebook parent company Meta announced it was shutting down the social platform’s facial recognition feature and deleting the facial templates it created for the system. The company cited “growing concerns about the use of this technology as a whole.” Meta also recently paid a $650 million settlement after the tech was found to have breached privacy laws in Illinois in the US.

TikTok's extremism problem: Platform recommends jihad, white supremacy and anti-Semitism to teen accounts

LONG READ

Sara Alhariri, Staff Reporter

RAWSTORY.COM
November 03, 2021

TikTok's logo. (Shutterstock)

"You will fight the Jews!" "Welcome to the life of jihad." "Your mum will smile at you burning in the hellfire!"

While these might sound like quotes delivered at a madrasa in Pakistan, they're not. They're quotes TikTok recommended to an account Raw Story set up as if it were 13 years old, the age of a typical American eighth grader, within 24 hours of signing up for the app.

TikTok is a social media app that streams short user-uploaded videos, recommending additional clips based on what users stop to watch. Prior Raw Story reports have revealed that TikTok's algorithm recommends firearms acccessories to minors, as well as a plethora of videos about suicide and self-harm.

Raw Story's investigation also found that TikTok can introduce teens to extremist content. A teenage account that simply searched the word "Muslim" was eventually shown propaganda sympathizing with the Islamic State, calls for jihad, and videos championing anti-Semitism and child marriage. Some content also contained black flag emojis, symbolizing the flag of the Islamic State.

TikTok also recommended white nationalist videos that glorified the Confederate flag and spread misinformation about the flag's origin. One video showed a man standing next to a Confederate flag referring to the flag design as "a Christian symbol." TikTok also recommended videos supportive of Nazi Germany. One clip referenced rising right-wing nationalism in Japan, with a caption showing the German and Italian flags saying, "Guys the gang is back! We're back!" World War II's Axis powers used their ideologies to justify genocide.

Radical Islamist content on social media has long been a gateway to terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. With new social media apps on the rise, and platforms like Facebook revising algorithms to keep users as engaged as possible, bad actors have taken to social media as a tried and true recruiting tool. In these cases, the future of recruitment is not a matter of the individual finding their cause, but their cause being advertised to the individual effortlessly.

Other extremist groups Raw Story found included white nationalists, conspiracy theorists, and cults. TikTok recommended the videos to teen accounts even if the user was not actively searching for them.

Others have discovered even more odious content. In August, the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue uncovered more than two dozen TikTok videos recreating the massacre of Muslims and 29 videos denying the Holocaust. The group also found ISIS propaganda, including a video of two Japanese hostages moments before their death and aerial drone footage of ISIS car bomb attacks.

Have tips about TikTok or internal documents about tech companies? Email techtips@rawstory.com.

TikTok did not comment when Raw Story asked about Islamist extremist content on their platform.

"This is an industry-wide challenge complicated by bad actors who actively seek to circumvent protective measures, but we have a team dedicated to aggressively protecting against malicious behavior on TikTok," a spokeswoman said in 2019.

"We permanently ban any such accounts and associated devices as soon as identified, and we continuously develop ever-stronger controls to proactively detect suspicious activity," the spokeswoman added.

TikTok's response came after a 2019 report that Islamic State militants were posting on its platform. In July, TikTok said it removed more than 300,000 videos for spreading "violent extremism" in a three month period earlier this year.

Raw Story created a TikTok account with a 13-year-old birthday and searched the word "Muslim." Soon after liking innocuous videos containing Gordon Ramsay judging a crème brûlée preparation and dad jokes, TikTok's algorithm began recommending videos from extremist Islamist preachers located all over the globe.

"Allah does not look for lip service. Allah looks for actions," said one preacher. "I'll die for Allah's path to righteousness."

"The one that's not wearing the hijab and the one that's not covering up, the prophet says, they would never enter the (sic) paradise," shouted another.

The first preacher, Mohamed Hoblos, came under fire for suggesting that rape and murder are lesser sins than missing prayer. The second, Australian Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman, spreads anti-gay conspiracy theories. TikTok's "Mohamed Hoblos" page says his videos have 53 million views.

TikTok also recommended a video from blogger and preacher Imran Ibn Mansur, better known as "Dawa Man." In one video TikTok suggested to Raw Story's teen account, Ibn Mansur stands over what appears to be a cadaver covered in an Islamic mortuary, a common sight on Raw Story's account.

"Let me show you something," he says. "This is a dead man."


London University banned Ibn Mansur from speaking in 2014 for referring to homosexuality as a "filthy disease" which must be "suppressed."

TikTok often recommended that Raw Story watch videos with the hashtag #jihad. Interaction by either liking or lingering on such videos triggered TikTok to recommend more extreme content. Despite the word being on their list of blocked search terms, hashtags like #jihad show up organically in TikTok's suggestions.

One video TikTok recommended, now taken down, showed Islamic State propaganda with messages to "welcome a life of Jihad" and to "get a gun to welcome my fate" set to Islamic chanting for holy war. More Islamic State propaganda stated, "One word which we have said is that the return of the caliphate is the promise of Allah!"

TikTok also suggested anti-Semitic videos. "Muhammad said you will fight the Jews," one unidentified preacher declared. "Take not the Jews and the Christians as friends," read text in another.

Another TikTok video showed a group of Jewish men congregating in a street in what appeared to be Israel. "Boy, you just wait until they open the borders, bro," the video's narrator said. "I swear to God I'm coming for you."


"Israel and America… fuck you," one woman yelled in a video montage of anti-Semitic messages. "Let us spit on this flag," another declared before setting an Israeli flag on fire. A third video showed a defaced photo of Israeli TikTok influencer Yael Deri. Many accounts had black flag emojis in their bios.



Experts expressed concern about TikTok recommending extremist content to minors. Seamus Hughes, Deputy Director of the Program of Extremism at George Washington University, noted that social media has been fertile ground for extremist recruiting. ISIS, he said, has a track record of recruiting very young teens.
"We have seen as young as 15-years-old," Hughes said.

In 2015, a 15-year-old boy was arrested by the FBI outside of Philadelphia for allegedly plotting to target Pope Francis in an ISIS-inspired attack. While recruitment is down, Hughes noted, it still continues.

"We are still seeing an average of one arrest per month for ISIS related cases," he said.

Devorah Margolin, Director of Strategic Initiatives at GW's extremism program, said she doesn't think the TikTok videos involve actual Islamic State recruiters. It's more likely that they're fan accounts that reupload ISIS propaganda to the platform, she said. But she stressed that fan content can still lead users to extremist causes.

"Islamic State fan content has the possibility of radicalizing and recruiting people to join the Islamic State's cause," she said. "Research shows that people typically radicalize with others, including friends, family, and peers. As such, having this content online risks like-minded individuals finding each other and radicalizing together."

Social media algorithms have been found to radicalize users. In 2019, the New York Times reported that after YouTube implemented a new artificial intelligence-based recommendation system, the platform fed Brazilians users conspiracy theories and extreme right-wing content. The effects echoed across Brazilian life. Teachers bemoaned unruly students who quoted from YouTube conspiracy videos. YouTube-sourced health misinformation undermined efforts to fight Zika. A little-known lawmaker who became a YouTube star — Jair Bolsonaro — is now Brazil's president.

Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, says that conspiracy theories can also be a gateway to extremist content on apps like TikTok.

"There are people who are willing to exploit people's vulnerabilities and weaknesses to bring them into their thrall, and they understand the power of social media," said Ahmed. "They know how to create content that exploits the algorithm."

Social media companies "have engaged in a program of systematic deceit of the public, journalists and lawmakers," Ahmed said.

TikTok has found itself caught between a rock in a hard place when dealing with controversial content. After taking down videos, it has sometimes been accused of censorship. In 2019, some users accused it of removing content to appease China, where the company is based. The firm subsequently hired two former U.S. legislators to review its content moderation policy.

TikTok's website provides a guardian's guide offering parents safety suggestions for minors. The features include Family Pairing, where parents can control privacy settings, limit what content teens see, and control how much time is spent on the app. These safety suggestions are far from foolproof, however, since children can easily create a new account in seconds using a new email address.

Extremist recruitment often takes the form of sharing accomplishments on existing online conversations in order to direct traffic to radical Islamist causes. In 2014, ISIS notoriously manipulated the Twitter algorithm by using trending hashtags in an attempt to hijack the World Cup tournament with radical Islamist propaganda.

"We see a hijacking of hashtags," said Hughes. "At one point, ISIS was tweeting the World Cup."

TikTok provides a unique opportunity for extremists, because most of its users are young. The short video format also offers sympathizers a different way to build excitement.

"The rhyme, beat, evocative lyrics and punchy delivery are especially appealing to youth," Elisabeth Kendall, an Oxford University expert on extremism, recently said. "This catchy sing-along method for propagating ISIS ideology means it spreads quickly and sticks in the collective memory. It tends to be far more effective than sermons or theological debate and treatises."

Extremists on TikTok also target other groups. A report this year from the Institute for Strategic dialogue found rampant anti-Muslim extremism, including videos depicting the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings, in which an Australian white supremacist killed 51 people after opening fire at two mosques.

The Institute found more than two dozen TikTok videos expressing support for the killer, "including 13 videos containing content [he] originally produced" and "three videos that feature video game footage designed to recreate the events."

They also found a panoply of other extremist videos. The most-viewed of the videos, the report said, was an anti-Asian clip referencing Covid-19 TikTok played two million times.

"Three of the top ten most-viewed videos, with a collective 3.5 million views, featured content first produced by jailed white supremacist Paul Miller," the report added. "Two of the top ten most-viewed videos... feature comments that mock the victims and deny the existence of the Bosnian genocide and the Holocaust."

Miller, a vocal white nationalist, has been banned from YouTube and other social media platforms.

While the Islamic State has faded from U.S. view, the threat from global terrorist networks is far from over. Just yesterday, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on a Kabul hospital that claimed at least 23 lives. The UN Security Council released reports this year suggesting ISIS plans to return to violent attacks to make up for lost time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security noted that Al-Qaeda released their magazine Inspire in English for the first time in four years, indicating that English-based recruitment remains on the terrorist group's agenda.

Three months ago, Imran Ali Rasheed of Garland, Texas shot and killed his Lyft driver after she drove him to a police station where he attempted to carry out a mass shooting. Rasheed left a note in Lewis' car attributing his acts to an unnamed radical Islamist terror group. He was killed by police.

As COVID-19 restrictions ease and more people congregate in large groups, the threat of terrorist attacks has grown. Despite TikTok's community guidelines banning extremist content, the platform continues to serve as a network for like-minded extremists. Margolin, the George Washington University extremist expert, said TikTok should focus on scrubbing extremist content from their platform.

"If content on TikTok is advocating active harm, travel to join a terrorist organization, or dehumanizing those they deem to be part of an 'out-group,' it should be removed," she said.