BLUF
This article suggests that social media is being used to radicalise Australians and recruit some Australians as spies.Summary
Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), states the following:
- Spies use social media to recruit other spies.
- Innocent seeming approaches such as job offers on popular social media can sometimes progress to using encrypted platforms to radicalise people and turn them against Australia.
- The Covid pandemic has seen an increase in online radicalisation attempts.
- People who may be vulnerable to radicalisation are spending more time online.
- Without the circuit breakers of everyday life, such as family and community engagement, school and work, a few people can become radicalised.
- The number of minors becoming the subject of new counter-terrorism investigations has risen from 2-3% to 15%.
- A very few children, some as young as 13, have become radicalised.
References
Recent Runway Posts related to this topic:
Social media moderators are like the paramedics of the internet – and they're right in the firing line of trolls (17 Feb) | The Runway (govcms.gov.au)
References from the web:
- Mar 2021 ABC News Three arrested in Melbourne counter-terrorism raids as police warn of youth radicalisation online
- Jun 2021 The Sydney Morning Herald ‘The game is back on’: How does spying work in Australia?
- Dec 2021 The Conversation Espionage is set to overtake terrorism as Australia’s top security concern – are our anti-spy laws good enough?
- Feb 2022 ASPI ASIO chief flags alarming increase in children lured to extremism
Source Information ZDNet:
- Article Source: ZDNet
- Media Check: ZDNet - Media Bias Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com)
- LEARNING OUTCOMES—RUNWAY | The Runway (airforce.gov.au)
