The Global Security Forum yesterday raised a concern over ‘white supremacy extremism rearing it’s ugly head’. The forum’s workshop ‘The Nexus Between Counterterrorism and Disinformation’ pointed fingers to the global threat posed by the rise of violent white supremacism. The session was hosted by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Executive Director’s Global Research Network (GRN).
“Transitional rise of the violent white supremacist movement has emerged to be an alarming threat referring to the recent developments in which homicide and violence were carried by the white supremacists,” said Michael Masters, president of the New York based The Soufan Centre. 
“White supremacist terrorism has turned out to be one of the major causes of deaths and violence in United States soil. As much as 73% of the extremist violent incidents were carried out by far right-wing violent groups in the US,” he pointed out. 
The session was attended by David Scharia, Chief of Branch, Counterterrorism Committee Executive Directive (CTED); Maya Mirchandani, senior fellow, Observer Reserach Foundation assistant professor, Department of Media Studies, Ashoka University; Milo Comerford, senior manager, policy, Institute of Strategic Dialogue; and Bettina Rottweiler, research assistant, Department of Security and Crime Science.
The session cited that disinformation feeds extremist and radical groups across the world. “Rapid expansion of social media and disinformation, disseminated by them, facilitate radicalisation and recruitment within such organisations. They make use of the Internet for propaganda, recruitment and financing,” it opined.
David Scharia, while addressing the session, said terrorists use disinformation to spread their ideas and fear and added that the challenge is very complex.
Maya Mirchandani, who referred to some of the recent untoward happenings in India, said that dissemination of misinformation continues to lead to mass violence and lynching.

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