A dangerous new home for online extremism

Can you imagine that a white digital ethnostat or cyber caliphate may seem like? By passing more of my work inside the extremist online movements, I can surely. 2024 may be a way in which Neo-Nazis, jihadists, and conspirators turn their idealism views on the creation of their own self-governing-not offline, but in the form of decentralized independent organizations (DAOS).

DAOs are digital institutions that run without central leadership and operate on blockchain. They allow Internet users to create their own organizational structures, which no longer need to interfere with third -party interference in financial and decision -making transactions. World Economic Forum Daos described As “an experiment to re -imagine how to connect, collaborate and create”. However, like all new technologies, there is also a dark side for them: they are likely to create new threats that result from decentralized extremist mobilization.

Today, there are currently more than 10,000 DAOs that collectively manage billions of dollars and count millions of participants. So far, DAOS has attracted a wild blend of libertarians, activists, jokes and entertainment. Most of my DAOS in my research looks innocent and fun. Personally, my favorite items include Thecafédao which aims to “replace Starbucks” (good luck with it!); DOGE DAO, who wants to turn “DOGE MEME as the most recognizable work of art in the world”; And hairstyle, “a decentralized asset manager who solves hair loss.” But some DAOs use a more radical tone. For example, the Dao’s rejected club, which faces the right right codes and conspiracy myth sources, claims that a secret network is aimed at “killing” the evil evil lizard king.

2024 may be one of the things that extremists begin to use DAOS strategically. Policies, legal contracts, and financial transactions, which have traditionally been the domain of governments, courts, and banks, can be replaced with smart contracts, unchanged signs, and encrypted currencies. The use of anonymous bitcoin wallets and non -transparent currencies such as Monroe is currently among the extensive extremists whose bank accounts are frozen. Change in completely decentralized forms is only one step away from self -management.

Beyond the practical reasons that encourage extremists to create their own autonomous structures, there is also an ideological motivation: their basic distrust of establishment. If you believe that the deep government or the “Jewish global elite” control everything from governments and large technologies to the global banking system, DAOS offers an attractive alternative. Conversations in the right margins such as Bitchute and Odysee show that there is a lot of appetite for decentralized alternative forms of cooperation, communication and population collection.

So what happens if anti -minority groups create their own digital world where they impose their ruling mechanisms? If the Trolling armies start collaborating through DAOS to launch election intervention campaigns, what stock is there? The activities of extremist DAOs can challenge the rule of law, be a threat to minority groups, and disrupt institutions that are currently the basic pillars of democratic systems. Another danger is that DAOs can serve as secure shelters for extremist movements by the possibility that users can circumvent government regulations and security services. They may also allow extremists to find new methods for funding, planning, and drawing radical -building campaigns or even attacks. While many governments have focused on developing legal frameworks for the regulation of artificial intelligence, few have even identified even DAOS. Their abuse for extremist and criminal purposes is what has flown under the radar of global policymakers.

Technology expert Carl Miller, who has long warned of possible abuse of DAOS, told me that “even if Daws behave like companies, they are not registered as legal institutions.” There are only a few exceptions: The United States of Wyoming, Vermont and Tennessee have passed laws for Daus’s legal recognition. Without regulations to respond to DAOS about extremist or criminal activities, the big question for 2024 will be: How can it be ensured that the metaur does not cause digital white ethnostates or cyber caliphate?