Some states are leveraging expertise in the digital domain to indulge in contemporary forms of cross-border terrorism, India has said, as it underlined the need to address the abuse of digital technologies by terrorist groups to radicalise and incite violence. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti told the UN Security Council briefing on The Use of Digital Technologies in Maintaining International Peace and Security on Monday that there is a need for addressing the abuse of digital technologies by the terrorist groups to disseminate terrorist ideologies, radicalise, incite violence and recruit the next generation of terrorist actors by taking advantage of the enhanced online presence of the youth.
He said the wide outreach of online space has enabled the terrorist groups to take advantage of the openness of pluralistic democratic societies like India by fueling social divisions, and sectarian hatred, and supporting anti-democratic movements and radical ideologies aimed at destabilizing governments and state institutions . Terrorist groups are taking advantage of online tools to build networks, recruit new members, procure weapons, and secure logistical support. The digital communications methods used by these groups are organized and sophisticated.
“They have become adept at using gaming chat rooms, the dark web, and other restricted access sites and unregulated online spaces to spread propaganda and incite violence. There have been instances of terrorists live-streaming their attacks on major platforms to maximize publicity and impact , he said.
He also noted that the emergence of new financial technologies such as new payment methods, virtual currencies, online fundraising methods, including direct donations, non-fungible tokens, and crowd-funding platforms, and the ease of access, anonymity, and intractability offered by them have enabled terrorist entities to collect and transfer funds evading the monitoring and enforcement structures.
Use of bitcoins for funding terror activities is also well established. Besides, terrorist misuse of artificial intelligence and 3D printing for various terrorist purposes, which have a global reach, also demands our immediate attention, he said. Thus, he said the need for member states to comprehensively address and tackle the implications of terrorist exploitation of the digital technologies more strategically has never been more dire.
Tirumurti informed the Security Council that India has proposed holding a special meeting of the Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee in India soon, which will exclusively focus on this issue and attempt to provide the way forward. He added that the ability of terrorist actors to connect, communicate, and share information, over the digital platforms, only underscores the growing need to regulate such inflammatory content online.
Equally needed is to address the legal challenges in bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to justice, particularly due to the remote nature of their involvement in terrorist activities, Tirumurti said, adding that while nations are used to looking at terrorism as a direct physical attack by the perpetrators, in the digital domain, the perpetrators inciting the terrorist acts through hateful content and radical ideologies may be far from the actors actually committing the act of terror. The instigators should be equally held responsible for such acts of terror. They cannot be less culpable than those who commit the act of terror. This is essential when we consider terrorism in the cyber domain, he said.
Tirumurti stressed that the interconnected nature of the digital domain requires that solutions to the complex problems and threats emanating from this domain cannot be resolved in isolation. There is an underlying need to adopt a collaborative rules-based approach and work towards ensuring its openness, stability, and security. Fostering equitable access to digital technologies and their benefits should also form an important component of this approach.
UN peacekeeping missions also need to be equipped with the latest digital technologies to counter those employed by armed groups, he said, adding that protecting the protectors should be as much a priority as protecting the civilians.
Read all the Latest News , Breaking News and IPL 2022 Live Updates here.
,