By Anne Craanen
In 2021, two members of The Base (a neo-Nazi accelerationist organisation) were arrested in the Netherlands for membership of a terrorist organisation as well as attempting a terrorist plot on former Prime Minister, Mark Rutte. On Friday 26 July 2024, the European Union (EU) sanctioned The Base as a terrorist organisation under its sanction regime CP 931. This is the first time the EU has designated a far-right terrorist group, a welcome but somewhat overdue development. This analysis examines how this recent designation will likely impact the dissemination of The Base’s online content, given the European Union’s legislative framework on countering terrorist content, specifically the Terrorist Content Online (TCO) Regulation. It argues that the designation is a positive step and could set a precedent for the EU to designate additional far-right terrorist entities, leading to increased removal of far-right terrorist material by tech platforms.
The Base:
The Base is a violent neo-Nazi accelerationist group which advocates for societal collapse to create a white ethnostate. The group was founded by Rinaldo Nazzaro in 2018. The group’s ideology is inspired by James Mason, a far-right ideologue known for “Siege,” a collection of essays promoting National Socialism and accelerationism. James Mason is also designated as a terrorist by the Government of Canada. Both Siege and The Base argue for inciting a race war by encouraging supporters to commit individual acts of violence or form small cells for attacks. Despite claiming to be ‘defensive,’ members of The Base have engaged in weapons training, circulated bomb-making manuals online, and spread propaganda encouraging violence and terrorism. The Base is predominantly active in the United States but has links with other international far-right terrorist groups like Atomwaffen Division. The UK and Australia have cited these connections as reasons for designating The Base as a terrorist organisation, highlighting that designating far-right groups (even those that claim to be inactive) facilitates future designations of similar entities. A few incidents have revealed European members and more localised cells of The Base. In 2023, Europol and Member States national police forces arrested individuals who were allegedly members of The Base. They shared propaganda and manuals on creating 3D printed weapons on WhatsApp and Telegram. As mentioned earlier, two members were arrested in the Netherlands in 2021 for organising a terrorist attack on former Prime Minister Rutte, as well as sharing hateful slurs and extremist content online.
Far-right Designations Worldwide:
Beyond the EU, other countries’ designation lists also remain heavily skewed towards Islamist terrorist entities. The United Nations (UN), another supranational institution like the EU that can directly influence other countries designation processes, has never designated a far-right terrorist group. In terms of global leaders, the United Kingdom and the Government of Canada are at the forefront in designating far-right entities. Germany uses a different approach, banning groups for being anti-constitutional, and has prohibited hundreds of organisations that subscribe to National Socialist ideology. This system differs slightly from the designation process of the aforementioned countries. New Zealand does designate far-right entities, such as the perpetrator of the Christchurch attack, who killed 51 people in an attack on two mosques in Christchurch on 15 March 2019. This sets an interesting precedent (similar to that of the government of Canada) for listing individuals as terrorist entities on the proscribed groups lists. Furthermore, whereas there is great consensus in the designation of Islamist terrorist groups, for the far-right this is still not seen to the same extent.
The European Union Designation System:
The European Union has several legislative measures to counter terrorism, including Council Common Position 2001/931/CFSP, the EU sanction list of terrorist persons and entities. This Common Position was established to implement UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1373 (2001) following 9/11. CP 931 lists individuals, groups, or entities involved in ‘terrorist acts’ and defines what these are. Once listed, entities face financial sanctions and increased police and judicial cooperation. The EU can list an entity when a Competent Authority in a Member State or a third country has already designated it. The UK, Canada, and Australia designated The Base in 2021, followed by New Zealand in 2022, paving the way for the EU designation. In addition, the Dutch government also added the group to their national list following the arrests made in the Netherlands. While CP 931 does not address online content, the Terrorist Content Online Regulation (TCO) provides the framework to understand the connection between the EU’s designation list and its legislation regarding online terrorist content.
The EU Designation System and the Terrorist Content Online Regulation:
The TCO, effective since June 2021, requires hosting service providers (HSPs) to remove terrorist content within an hour when alerted by Competent Authorities via a removal order. Before issuing the order, the authority must ensure the content meets the “terrorist content” definition as defined in the TCO. This is closely linked to the EU Combating Terrorism Directive, which defines terrorist offences. In short, terrorist content is defined as material that leads to a terrorist offence. However, the TCO also makes reference to the EU sanction system in Article 11, where it states: “The fact that the material was produced by, is attributable to or is disseminated on behalf of a person, group or entity included in the Union list of persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts and subject to restrictive measures should constitute an important factor in the assessment.” Consequently, Competent Authorities will likely find it easier to classify and order the removal of material produced by designated terrorist organisations as terrorist content.
Looking at the removal orders so far, The European Commission’s implementation report from February 2024 shows that removal orders predominantly target Islamist terrorist groups designated by the EU sanctions regime, such as the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas), and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Although these groups produce substantial volumes of official propaganda compared to far-right terrorist organisations, the report indicates that removal orders often pertain to content created by designated terrorist entities. Thus, the EU’s first designation of a far-right terrorist group is significant for combating far-right terrorist material online as it makes the implementation of the TCO even clearer when it comes to content produced by The Base.
Beyond Competent Authorities, the designation can influence other entities that focus on removing terrorist material, such as tech platforms themselves. A report by the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) outlines that tech companies often rely on designation lists to inform their content moderation policies. In addition, the Terrorist Content Analytics Platform (TCAP), an initiative by Tech Against Terrorism that alerts tech companies to terrorist content, has found that platforms are more responsive to removing Islamist terrorist content than far-right terrorist material. They argue that the lack of designation of far-right entities may be one reason for this. It is likely that large tech companies with significant content moderation capabilities already moderate content from The Base, given its designation by other Five Eyes governments. However, far-right material is often found on smaller, fringe platforms that aim to protect free speech and therefore are co-opted by far-right terrorists and violent extremists. Whereas some of these tech companies are completely uncooperative, some do focus on removing illegal terrorist content from their platforms. The designation of The Base, therefore, may help such platforms, as they will now have additional legal clarity when it comes to material produced by The Base. In terms of completely non-cooperative platforms, removal orders by Competent Authorities can be used to demand removal. Thus, the inclusion of The Base in such lists will likely aid platforms and other initiatives in addressing far-right terrorist content in the European Union.
To designate or not?
Despite the designation of The Base, designation systems globally have received significant, and justified criticism. The objections to designation come on both humanitarian and constitutional grounds. In terms of humanitarian concerns, designations of terrorist groups, especially those in conflict areas, can prevent the resolution of such conflicts, as well as block humanitarian aid. In terms of constitutional qualms, vagueness around the terrorist definition, irregular or no review processes, and untransparent appeal mechanisms are the strongest given the stringent implications for human rights.
Whereas the aforementioned criticism is on designation as a legal system or concept, there are specific concerns around specific national and supranational designation systems. Tech Against Terrorism’s report on designation analyses 11 of those systems, outlines specific challenges, and provides recommendations for the designation systems in question. These centre around who gets designated and when, given that most designations are outdated. Examples include far-right groups being proscribed who had already rebranded or disbanded before receiving a status as a terrorist group. Finally, as already established, the lack of far-right terrorist entities is also emphasised. This is particularly problematic when examining the relationship between designation and the EU’s online regulation, given many Competent Authorities are still familiarising themselves with the legislation and determining the threshold for material to constitute terrorist content under the TCO.
Whereas the above concerns are valid, this does not remove the fact that (at the time of writing) designation is one of the prevailing legal systems that is used to counter terrorism. As such, far-right terrorism must be addressed by designation. This does not mean that designation processes should not be improved, governments should take care to improve their designation mechanisms and ensure they are human rights compliant. However, as seen with the designation of The Base, this article would argue that the EU designation remains a positive step when it comes to countering the content produced by The Base.
This article does not suggest that designating far-right terrorist entities is the only method to tackle online terrorist content stemming from far-right terrorists. The TCO allows authorities to address content not produced by designated terrorist organisations. For example, the Spanish Competent Authority included a PDF document on Telegram glorifying past far-right attack perpetrators and encouraging terrorism in its first two removal orders, utilising the full definition of terrorist content as laid out in the TCO. However, the implementation report seems to indicate that it is easier to act when a designation is in place, as suggested by Article 11 of the TCO.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the EU has taken an essential step by designating The Base impacting its offline and online activities. By designating its first far-right terrorist group, the EU has underscored the importance of addressing far-right terrorism and paved the way for the EU to designate more far-right terrorist entities. Given the TCO and its reference to the EU designation list, Competent Authorities can now more confidently assess material produced by The Base to determine whether it constitutes terrorist content and send removal orders to tech companies when doing so. This move can enable the TCO and CP 931 to tackle far-right terrorist content more effectively and therefore for the legal framework of the EU to have its desired outcome, to counter terrorist content, including that produced by far-right terrorists.
Anne Craanen is a researcher at Swansea University and a member of the VOX-Pol Network. She is also a Senior Research and Policy Manager at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Her research focusses on terrorist use of the internet, rule of law responses, and the role of gender in terrorism and violent extremism. Anne has worked on initiatives related to tech policy, regulation, and ethical research as well as advised governments, tech companies, and regulators on these issues. Anne used to be the Research Manager at Tech Against Terrorism, as well as having worked at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), Dataminr, and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR).
IMAGE CREDIT: PEXELS
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