ALLIES

The ALLIES project aims to support micro and small Hosting Service Providers (HSP) in achieving compliance with the new requirements and obligations under the “Terrorist Content Online” (TCO) Regulation. This will be achieved through the creation of proper learning, training, experience sharing mechanisms as well as technical Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.

Even though the number of terrorist attacks have remained approximately at the same level as the previous years (119 in 2020 and in 2019, 129 in 2018), there is a new factor that plays a pivotal role for the spread of violent extremism propaganda – the Internet. One of the most dangerous and trending types of misuse of the opportunities that the Internet offers in the field of public security has been proven to be the usage of social media and websites for dissemination of terrorist content.

Consequently, a step further was taken by the European Union on the matter by adopting a new Regulation, namely Regulation (EU) 2021/7845 (also known as the TCO Regulation) urging the implementation of specific protective measures. The TCO Regulation requires online hosting providers to remove any illegal terrorist content within one hour, after having received an official removal order.

Within this scope, the ALLIES project is funded by the European Commission under the EU Call “ISF-2021-AG-TCO for a period of 24 months. ALLIES aims to support micro and small Hosting Service Providers (HSP) in complying with the requirements of the TCO Regulation through the creation of the proper learning, training, experience sharing mechanisms as well as technical (AI) tools (see Figure 1).

The outcomes of this project will not only contribute to the enforcement of the TCO Regulation, but they are also profoundly aligned with the objectives laid down by the European Commission in the 2020 Counter Terrorism Agenda.

The ultimate outcomes that will derive from the project will include not only a higher number of TCO removed by micro and small HSPs, but also establishing a model of communication between such enterprises so that they share best practises and experiences with each other. Finally, the increase in the number of micro and small HSPs that will implement the TCO Regulation in a proper way is also a long-term outcome towards which ALLIES aims to work.

Project Consortium

The ALLIES project will be realised by a consortium of twelve partners from six different countries. The consortium comprises experts in the security domain, AI and training, researchers, LEAs, and our main target group HSPs.

The project is coordinated by Law and Internet Foundation (Bulgaria) [https://www.netlaw.bg/]. Further partners of the ALLIES project are Centre for Research & Technology HELLAS (Greece) [https://www.certh.gr/], Novelcore – Research & Innovation (Greece) [https://novelcore.eu/], University Cattolica of Sacro Cuore – Transcrime (Italy) [https://www.transcrime.it/en/], BEST Institute for vocational training and personal training GmbH (Austria) https://www.best.at/], SYNYO GmbH (Austria) [https://www.synyo.com/], Ministry of Home Affairs – Catalan | MOSSOS D’ESQUADRA (Spain) [https://interior.gencat.cat/ca/inici], Center for Social Innovation Limited (Cyprus) [https://csicy.com/], Catalink Limited (Cyprus) [https://catalink.eu/], Greek e-Commerce Association (Greece) [https://www.greekecommerce.gr/], Webarts Limited (Cyprus) [https://webarts.agency/] and the University of Pompeu Fabra (Spain) [https://www.upf.edu/en/].

Combined these partners will invest a total of 275.50 person months into the ALLIES project. As leader of the dissemination and communication work package, SYNYO will ensure increasing project visibility, public awareness, and effective communication of achievements to the desired target groups and the scientific community.

Project objectives

ALLIES will aim to successfully disseminate the project’s outcomes and fulfil the project objectives:

• AWARENESS among micro and small HSPs for the TCO Regulation and its requirements
• AI TOOL developed to support HSPs by implementing the TCO Regulation
• TRAINING for HSPs concerning TCO Regulation content and the usage of the created AI tool
• SAFE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT for experience sharing and reporting among HSPs

ALLIES follows an end-user driven methodology, which aims to ensure the proper alignment of its outcomes with the operational and organisational needs of the final end-users. All Work Packages have been carefully designed to complement each other to produce the desired results, following the proposed scheme: Prepare, Develop, Demonstrate, Propose (PDDP). A total of 7 related work packages will be implemented by the project consortium.

Links

Website:               https://www.alliesproject.com/

Twitter:                 https://twitter.com/ALLIES_EU

LinkedIn:               https://www.linkedin.com/in/allies-eu-project-6507b9265/

Keywords

ALLIES, EU-Project, ISF, EU Home Affairs, EU Security Research, Hosting Service Provider, HSP, Terrorist Content Online Regulation, TCO, AI, counter terrorism, counter radicalisation, awareness raising, cyber security, terrorism, extremism, radicalisation