The Rising Threat of Domestic Terrorism: A Review of the Federal Response to Domestic Terrorism and the Spread of Extremist Content on Social Media

This report is a culmination of three years of investigation into domestic terrorism and the federal response. This report focuses on the rise in domestic terrorism, the federal response, the allocation of federal resources to addressing domestic terrorism, and the role of social media companies in the proliferation of extremist content. The expansion of social media has led to increased recruitment, dissemination, and coordination of domestic terrorist and extremist related activities. According to a National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses on Terrorism study, in 2016 alone, social media played a role in the radicalization process of perpetrators in over 90 percent of extremist plots or activities in the United States. Domestic terrorist groups use a range of social media platforms to recruit, communicate, train, and mobilize members, leading to the rapid expansion of potential threats. Extremist content proliferates on these platforms, despite rules against such content and moderation measures designed to remove the content. The First Amendment, the Privacy Act of 1974, Executive Order 1233, and agency specific guidance govern and rightfully limit how federal agencies use social media for law enforcement and intelligence purposes. Federal agencies are permitted to use social media within the bounds of civil rights and civil liberty restraints, but oversight entities have found that the federal government has not adequately utilized tools and resources to address domestic terrorist threats on social media. This report finds that social media companies have failed to meaningfully address the growing presence of extremism on their platforms. These companies’ business models are based on maximizing user engagement, growth, and profits, which incentivizes increasingly extreme content – and absent new incentives or regulation, extremist content will continue to proliferate and companies’ moderation practices will continue to be inadequate to stop its spread.