Extremists move communication to encrypted apps

WASHINGTON — The dramatic move by big tech firms to evict tens of thousands of users from their social media accounts because of concerns over violence is posing a challenge for law enforcement officials, who have lost a valuable resource to monitor the growing threat.

In the days after a pro-Trump mob rioted at the U.S. Capitol, Twitter suspended more than 70,000 accounts, Facebook purged an undisclosed number, and Amazon Web Services booted Parler — one of the more popular platforms among far-right domestic extremists — entirely o±ine.

The FBI has warned of the potential for violence through Wednesday’s inauguration in capitols across the country, saying domestic extremists “pose the most likely threat … particularly those who believe the incoming administration is illegitimate.”

The targeted accounts and platforms have increasingly seethed with rage over unfounded grievances and conspiracy theories: criminal immigrants invading the country; an election stolen from President Donald Trump; and Satan-worshipping Democrats trafficking children for sex. Communications on these platforms provided law enforcement with insights into disparate groups or movements — some paramilitary, some avowedly white supremacist — and which might be planning violent attacks.

Banned from mainstream sites, thousands of users migrated to encrypted apps and less-moderated platforms such as Telegram, which is based overseas.

“It’s good news and bad news,” said John Miller, deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism for the New York Police Department. “The good news is for a moment it interrupts the conversation to a mass audience that seems to be growing. The bad news is they’re going to have to find another platform. And you’re going to have to find that platform to follow them.”