Counter Extremism Project
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| Formation | September 22, 2014 |
|---|---|
| Type | NGO |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization |
| Purpose | Combat extremist groups |
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CEO
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Mark Wallace |
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President
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Frances Townsend |
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Executive Director
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David Ibsen |
| Website | www |
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is a nonprofit NGO that combats extremist groups "by pressuring financial support networks, countering the narrative of extremists and their online recruitment, and advocating for strong laws, policies and regulations."
CEP was formally launched on September 22, 2014 by top former government officials, including former Homeland Security adviser Frances Townsend, former Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, and Mark Wallace, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. The mission of the organization is to fight global extremism, with an initial goal of disrupting the financing and online recruitment and propaganda of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The group is modeled on United Against Nuclear Iran, an advocacy group led by Wallace which has had success in contributing to the economic pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Other prominent board members include Gary Samore, August Hanning, Dennis Ross, and Irwin Cotler.
CEP launched its "Digital Disruption Campaign" to remove accounts associated with ISIS from social media networks in order to deny them popular platforms to incite violence, spread their message, and recruit members. The campaign has particularly focused on Twitter, calling on the company to adopt new policies to prevent extremists such as ISIS from misusing their platform, as well as identifying ISIS accounts and alerting Twitter to remove them. The campaign has led to death threats such as beheading against CEP President Fran Townsend on Twitter from jihadist accounts.
On September 28, 2015, CEP co-hosted the first Global Youth Summit Against Violent Extremism with the U.S. Department of State and Search for Common Ground at The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. The event "drew more than 80 youth leaders from 45 countries with the objective of developing outreach and social-media intervention initiatives that can be shared globally." Senior U.S. government officials who addressed the attendees included U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel, and Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Sarah Sewall. The summit also featured presentations from Facebook and Microsoft. A panel of judges at the summit awarded $100,000 to youth activist programs it believed would have the greatest impact.
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Wikipedia