Netherlands among 13 countries in global terrorism propaganda busts; Spain arrests 9

Two major international operations to break up the propaganda and communications channels of terrorist organizations were carried out this week, leading authorities in 13 countries to take action against servers, web hosting services and websites, Europol announced on Friday. The Netherlands was directly involved in one of the police actions, with Dutch authorities seizing computer servers and Spanish police arresting nine suspects, the European agency announced from its headquarters in The Hague.

"This week’s joint operations are part of ongoing efforts and constant vigilance to tackle online terrorist propaganda and communications, including through social media. They targeted key tools and nodes to disseminate radical messages centred on the I'LAM Foundation, which created, operated or supported websites and other communication channels linked to the Islamic State terrorist organisation," the agency said.

The investigations developed from a 2022 case investigated by the Guardia Civil, the national police service in Spain. They gradually expanded their investigation abroad as they traced a complex web of technological services which were used to distribute propaganda. The casework was divided into two investigations, one focused more on information communications technology, and the other examining channels disseminating propaganda from Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, and al-Qaeda affiliated groups.

This first operation led authorities to take down servers in the Netherlands, Germany, the United States and Iceland this week. Police in Spain arrested "nine radicalized individuals" in Andalusia, the Canary Islands, and Catalunya.

"The websites and communication channels, such as radio stations, a news agency and social media content, had a global reach. They communicated directives and slogans of Islamic State in over thirty languages, including Spanish, Arabic, English, French, German, Danish, Turkish, Russian, Indonesian and Pashto," said Europol.

The parallel investigation, named Operation Hopper II, was also brought to a close this week. Authorities in ten countries "specifically targeted terrorist-operated websites used to disseminate terrorist propaganda, thereby limiting the ability of terrorist organisations to recruit, radicalize and mobilize recruiters online."

It led to four servers being seized in Iceland, Romania, and Ukraine, and 13 hosting services were told to take 13 websites offline. Europol expects similar investigations to continue as copycat services are launched. Other websites were also seized, Europol said.

The Netherlands was not directly involved in this second operation. Police in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.