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Australian study calls for the ban of online terror material

A new Australian study says social networking sites are being used by terrorist groups to groom vulnerable people, and the country should be limiting extremist propaganda on the internet.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) security program director Dr Carl Ungerer says terror websites have evolved from crude propaganda and bomb-making manuals to more sophisticated sites.

He said terror groups such as al-Qaeda had exploited the technology and infrastructure of global connectivity and, according to one study, there were now more than 5000 active terrorist websites worldwide, many operating from the US where free speech is protected under the constitution.

A study of internet radicalisation in Southeast Asia found the terrorist presence on the internet now involved encrypted social networking sites where potential recruits were identified, groomed and radicalised in local languages.

Dr Ungerer said sophisticated English language material was deliberately aimed at vulnerable individuals in the West with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) finding this was radicalising children as young as 14.

He said Australia, like other western nations, had introduced new policies to counter violent extremism including policies to limit terrorist propaganda on the internet.

"But the ease of access to violent extremist material around the world and the lack of uniform legislative control means that an online approach that focuses only on soft counter-messaging will not prevent material being used for radicalisation," he said in the paper.

Further information:
Australian Strategic Policy Institute

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