Europol target violent jihadist websites

A total of 50 websites dedicated to the distribution of online terrorist propaganda and promoting violent jihadist ideology were targeted by Europol over the course of a referral action that took place in the last week of October.

The European Union Internet Referral Unit (EU IRU)  at Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) coordinated the referral activity, which involved law enforcement authorities from Germany and the UK.

The referral action targeted terrorist-operated and violent jihadist websites by referring them to Online Service Providers (OSP) supporting web infrastructure, such as registrars, hosting companies and Internet infrastructure companies, with a request to review content against their terms of service.

Out of 50 websites, including sites supporting the so-called Islamic State and al-Qaeda terrorist organisations and their affiliates, 21 were suspended following referrals to the relevant OSP.