June 7, 2023
In a joint effort, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) initiated a collaborative project called “Night Fury” in 2018.
The project’s primary objective was to address the pressing concern of potential terrorist accounts proliferating on social media platforms. Additionally, it aimed to combat disinformation and monitor the illegal opioid supply chain.
The core strategy behind “Night Fury” involved the development of a risk scoring mechanism for identified social media accounts. This system would effectively discern the level of threat posed by each account. The project was discontinued in 2019 without accomplishing its intended goals.
Several critical issues plagued the project, leading to its termination. One of the major concerns was the lack of clarity in the criteria definitions, which resulted in biased outcomes and erroneous automated judgments. Furthermore, disclosed documents revealed that the project utilized a tool called the “Facebook Group Expander” to identify potential pro-terrorist accounts and associated Facebook Groups. UAB furnished the DHS with lists of these accounts and their corresponding posts, with similar efforts planned for Twitter.
Initially concentrating on counterterrorism, illegal opioids, transnational crime, and foreign disinformation, the project also aspired to expand its scope within the DHS. The overarching goal was to identify locations without GPS metadata and monitor threats across various online communities, even during critical events such as hurricanes.
The sources for this piece include an article in Vice.
