A total of 346 links of terrorist content on 27 platforms were assessed and referred during a law enforcement action day involving Western Balkan countries.
The referral action day targeting online jihadist propaganda took place on October 6 2020. The European Union Internet Referral Unit (EU IRU) at Europol organized the operational activities in cooperation with Croatia. Specialized units from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia also participated in the action day.
The referral action targeted online content disseminated by members and supporters of al-Qaeda, the so-called Islamic State and affiliated groups. The counterterrorism units from the participating countries, together with the EU IRU, looked into jihadist propaganda material, such as video tutorials, nashids, social media accounts inciting to violence. The content was spread in the languages of the Western Balkan countries mainly by local supporters of the targeted jihadist organizations.
Europol’s EU Internet Referral Unit collected the contributions sent by the Western Balkan countries and stored the content in its database. After cross-checking against Europol databases and performing de-confliction with participant countries, the material was referred to the online service providers.
