The Moonshot Threat Bulletin is designed to inform threat assessments for public safety professionals, analysts and decision-makers alike, who need to hone in on emerging trends faster and understand how developments online may translate to offline risk.
In this series, we provide a monthly glimpse into the Threat Bulletin’s national trends analysis of online DVE spaces across the U.S. Our aim is to give a taste of the critical insights and coverage that Threat Bulletin provides.
This blog contains a short excerpt from November’s Moonshot Threat Bulletin. If you would like to access a one month free-trial to the full Threat Bulletin and discuss buying a subscription for your organization, please get in touch: info@moonshotteam.com
November 2022 National Trends
Key Insights
Google searches for antisemitic terms increased by 285% in November. The comments of public figures including Kanye West, Dave Chappelle and Kyrie Irving are being celebrated for their contribution to the perceived “normalization” of antisemitism in public life. Threats and violence against this community are likely to continue in the coming months, particularly if further mainstream voices become involved in this discourse.
DVE narratives, including antisemetic hashtag ‘#TheNoticing’ have gained momentum on Twitter. At the time of reporting, Twitter remains a contested space in the DVE landscape.There is evidence of DVE narratives surfacing on the platform, including the antisemitic hashtag “#TheNoticing”, which trended on Twitter on November 5 with over 5,000 global mentions.
Mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs framed as a consequence of LGBTQ+ community’s perceived “grooming” of children with calls for attacks on this community to “keep happening”. The perpetrator of the attack is being hailed a “hero” in DVE spaces, while they are also being labeled a “poor shooter” for failing to kill enough victims. The attack follows a prolonged increase in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and nationwide acts of confrontation and violence against this community.
Calls to action against FIFA shared in Anarchist spaces. On the opening day of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the Adidas North American headquarters in Portland (Oregon) was vandalized. Blog posts from Anarchist outlets claimed that the vandalism was an act of anarchism, while calling upon their readership to commit similar acts of vandalism against the sponsors and partners of FIFA and the World Cup.
Potential malicious political influence campaign identified on 4chan. This month, Moonshot uncovered evidence of coordinated dissemination of historic divisive media articles on 4chan Several articles from Western media outlets were posted more than 50 times, with similar or identical accompanying post text. The articles share a number of other common characteristics, implying that these unique posts were coordinated as part of a single coordinated influence campaign.
The Moonshot Threat Bulletin provides an overview of the key events, themes and narratives discussed by audiences within online U.S.-based Domestic Violent Extremist (DVE) spaces, including:
- Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism (REMVE)
- Anti-Government and Anti-Authority Violent Extremism (AGAAVE) (including Militia Violent Extremism, Sovereign Citizen Violent Extremism, and Anarchist Violent Extremism)
- Harmful Conspiracy Theories online.
It also provides an assessment of violent hate, threats, and harassment trends online.
The Threat Bulletin includes comprehensive coverage of both mainstream and niche platforms, including Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, Gab, Telegram, 4chan, Stormfront, Gettr, 8kun, TruthSocial, among others.
The Threat Bulletin also monitors and forecasts future trends and events to watch across online DVE spaces. For more detailed insights and analysis, including geo-spatial assessments of DVE threats across the U.S., please get in touch: info@moonshotteam.com.
