What are extremist watchers and how are they trying to stop the next domestic terrorist attack?

Right wing extremism is on the rise after many individuals have fallen into right-wing groups which are bound by the the spreading of fake news and conspiracy theories. Some of these groups, like believers of the QAnon conspiracy have have millions of members, including sitting Congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene. Each election cycle more traditional Republicans are replaced by those with more extreme conservative and nationalistic beliefs. Meanwhile, the GOP seems unable to control their party with former President Donald Trump the obvious leader and endorsing candidates that continue to undermine the Mitt Romney and Mitch Mcconnell types and move the party further to the right.

The Trump backed candidate for governor in Arizona, Kari Lake, is an open 2020 election denier and has used her platform to share incorrect theories that open some citizens and election workers to violence.

Some reserachers move online to monitor these groups

Independent extremist watchers have been monitoring and collecting data on online groups which have seen increased membership after the shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas, and Highland Park, Illinois, sparking fears that copycats may feel inspired to carry out their own acts of violence.

Unfortunately, in the darker corners of the internet, the shooters who carry out these attacks are praised and users make claims that they will conduct similar attacks on the communities around them. Now, some are monitoring these groups with the hope that they will be able to inform law enforcement before such acts can be carried out and learn more about what brings people to these sites.

Daryl Johnson, a consultant and former Department of Homeland Security senior analyst, told USA Today that “their monitoring occasionally sparks investigations and arrests, and their willingness to put themselves online to face harassment or worse from extremists fills a vital gap in the nation’s understanding of a growing threat.”

But many within these research groups see engagement with law enforcement as a small part of their job. Most of the time, many say, the research is boring and much more mundane than media paints it out to be. When it comes to preventing crimes their jobs are difficult since the team is small and extremists are many across several platforms.

A look at one of these online extremist watcher and researcher

One researcher, Sara Aniano, began tracking right wing groups during the covid-19 pandemic and has used the evidence and knowledge she has gained to complete her master’s thesis at Monmouth University. She began to look deeper into these groups after one of her friends fell into an extremist group.

When the friend began to send her messages “about how Ellen DeGeneres was on house arrest and adrenochrome,” she thought “surely she’s joking.’” She wasn’t, Aniano’s friend had found a QAnon group online and was starting to spew the conspiracy theories being shared there.

People like Aniamo see their small effort as a way to help those around them who have fallen into these radical spaces with the hopes of better understanding what is motivating and convincing them. In some cases, preventing violence can serve as an important goal to motivate this challenging group which expose people to extreamly unsettling and sanguineous content.