Far-right extremists still downloading Christchurch massacre footage

Dozens of Australians are still downloading vision of the Christchurch terrorist’s attack and manifesto along with other far-right extremist material, according to a counter-terror probe.

A confidential federal police online tracking project examining radicalisation and peer-to-peer websites estimated that up to 90 per cent of the most popular extremist files shared within a community involved extreme right-wing content.

Most were linked to the Christchurch terrorist attack in March 2019.

The findings support remarks this week by ASIO director-general Mike Burgess that Australia’s neo-Nazi cells and other ideologically inspired groups are growing, fuelled by online propaganda about race and COVID-19.

The proliferation of extremist material in the dark corners of the internet also raises questions about the effectiveness of the federal government’s efforts to force tech companies to remove and report extremist material from their online platforms.

Members of the Australian neo-Nazi group National Socialist Network.Credit:

The rise of the white supremacy movement and neo-Nazism in Australia was exposed this week after The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes published the first part of an eight-month investigation. It included an undercover operation to infiltrate the nation’s largest white supremacist group, the National Socialist Network.

It also revealed the network’s support for the Christchurch terrorist and domestic terror suspects, and their use of encrypted platforms such as Telegram to recruit and organise.

Those stories led to police examining the videos covertly recorded by a National Socialist Network infiltrator, several large employers sacking extremist staff, and former network members issuing statements repudiating the group.

On Wednesday, gaming giant Crown Resorts said it had sacked security manager and network member Daniel Todisco, while a 28-year-old who attended neo-Nazi meetings in April, Vinnie O’Neill, told reporters he had quit the network, disavowing its views.

The Australian Federal Police analysis of Australians downloading Christchurch terrorism propaganda in the last quarter of 2020 highlighted the appeal of the New Zealand terror attacks to budding extremists. Sources aware of the findings outlined them to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Laws passed by the federal government after the Christchurch attack, carried out by Australian Brenton Tarrant, aimed to decrease the sharing of extremist material by making it an offence for online platforms and internet service providers to fail to remove or report such material.

In a recent submission to a federal parliamentary inquiry into extremism, the chief executive of the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre, Rachael Falk, said the laws were “pioneering and pivotal” and noted that the apparent failure to charge any company under them “may serve to demonstrate the act’s deterrent effect”.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess.Credit:Nine

However, the federal police analysis of peer-to-peer extremist content downloaded by Australians suggests the deterrence may be limited and that extremist material is being distributed by companies outside the police’s jurisdictional reach.

An analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Ariel Bogle, will release a report on Thursday examining extremist fundraising online. She said her investigations had uncovered members of the Australian far-right using internet platforms to solicit funds.

Ms Bogle said this included the use of live-streaming platforms that included a payment function, micro-donation websites and internet wallet addresses for cryptocurrencies such as monero that are designed to avoid detection.

A Telegram channel associated with National Socialist Network leader Tom Sewell has recently encouraged followers to donate through largely untraceable online cryptocurrency platforms to support his legal case.

On a live Telegram chat on August 7, Jacob Hersant, the second in charge of the network, boasted about reading the Christchurch terrorist’s manifesto.

Ms Bogle said Telegram â€" along with platforms like Gab, VK and Element â€" was facilitating funding requests by extremists, and some online financial platforms are potentially avoiding scrutiny from financial crime agency Austrac.

“We need far more transparency and accountability from these platforms and payment processors about how their terms of service are enforced, and we should consider whether Australia’s financial regulation has proper oversight of this space,” she said.

The cyber centre’s Ms Falk has also backed proposed laws that will give authorities greater powers to access online platforms and counter-encryption, saying this will “play a key role in countering violent extremism and radicalisation”.

ASIO has warned that 97 per cent of its priority counter-terror probes are being undermined by targets’ use of encryption to share extremist material and directions.

But civil libertarians, including Kieran Pender of the Human Rights Law Centre, have called on the Morrison government to amend the proposed laws, arguing they are overly invasive and may expose the work of journalists and whistleblowers.

“Any expansion of the government’s ability to spy on everyday Australians must be strictly necessary and proportionate,” Mr Pender said.

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Nick McKenzie is an Age investigative journalist who has twice been named the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year. A winner of 10 Walkley Awards, he investigates politics, business, foreign affairs, human rights and criminal justice.

Joel Tozer is a Walkley award winning journalist and TV producer. He has covered major stories around the world and has a particular interest in politics and international affairs.

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