Moonshot monitors online threats and encouragement to violence against over 20 different communities and groups in the United States who are often targeted with hate and abuse.

Understanding this online threat landscape is critical for several reasons. Even if threats leveled online do not escalate into physical attacks or hate crimes, they can still create a climate of fear for those targeted. This climate may force affected individuals to make serious changes to their own lives, for example having to relocate homes or maintain burdensome personal security measures.

Understanding the online threat landscape is also important as it may provide an indication into what is happening offline. This is especially important as data concerning offline incidents often takes months or years to become available. This can help law enforcement and security officials better determine when resources need to be increased or protective measures strengthened, and ultimately may help prevent offline violence.

While the relationship between the online and offline space is complex, the publication of the 2022 FBI Hate Crimes Statistics provides an opportunity to investigate this relationship further. For this analysis, Moonshot compared online threats identified in DVE spaces on Telegram, Gab, 4chan, X, BitChute and Reddit towards Black and LGBTQ+ communities, as recorded in our monthly Threat Bulletin, with the FBI’s reported offline hate crimes against these same groups. Analysis was conducted from July 2022 to December 2022.