By Rachel Olding
A computer program that automatically detects signs of radicalisation on Facebook profiles is one of several tools being developed by Australian experts to counter the spread of jihadi rhetoric online.
However, a tool kit developed for the federal Attorney General's department to help law enforcement and other services identify online radicalisation has not been adopted by the government more than six months after its creation.
Fairfax Media revealed on Thursday that banned British preacher Abu Haleema has turned his gaze to Australia and is quickly building a support base among young jihadi sympathisers in Australia.
Authorities are powerless to stop him and other influential overseas radicals from preaching hate through Facebook, YouTube and other social media.
Banned British preacher Abu Haleema is quickly building a support base in Australia.Credit: Fairfax Media
About one report a day is being made to the government's Report Online Extremism Tool, according to data provided to Fairfax Media.
Among Haleema's supporters are several Sydney men who have flooded their Facebook pages with messages attacking non-religious law in Australia.
"Going to seek judgement from taghoot (man made law) makes you a kaffir [non-believer]," said one fan, a former Parramatta High School student.
Anne Azza Aly, one of the country's leading researchers in online extremism, said there are almost always "warning behaviours" online before an individual carried out an act of violent extremism.
Alastair MacGibbon, the Children's eSafety Commissioner.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
"A large proportion of people will leak their intentions online," she said.
A report, commissioned by the Attorney General's Department, determined the risk factors for online radicalisation and formulated a matrix-based tool kit for law enforcement and other services to identity the warning signs.
The Curtin University research, completed in July, also developed the first-ever metric for evaluating counter-narratives however none of the tools have been adopted, Dr Aly said.
A spokesman for the Attorney General's department said the findings had been incorporated into other online strategies.
Together with a British company, Dr Aly is working towards automating the tool kit so it can scan Facebook profiles and pick up markers of extremism.
"It would flag a certain user's behaviour online, then we can go in and look more deeply at that user," she said.
She said relying on social media companies to pull down pages such as Haleema's was "a whack-a-mole approach that is not an effective long-term strategy". The British extremist has boasted about setting up new profiles up to three times in a day.
The country's first Children's e-Safety Commissioner, Alastair MacGibbon, is also scoping programs to build digital resilience to violent extremism.
He said the internet has been "a great boon" for radicals and other predators.
"We're putting an ever-increasing amount of well-targeted information online for families and kids. This is an issue of good digital citizenship."