In the report, right-wing extremism is defined as support for violence to achieve political outcomes relating to white supremacism and neo-Nazism, but not just limited to those ideologies.
Telegram is an encrypted messaging platform, while Buy Me A Coffee and Ko-fi are platforms that allow users to make ongoing or one-off contributions to a person.
By analysing nine Telegram channels that share right-wing extremist content to more than 100 subscribers, Ms Bogle has mapped how right-wing extremist content creators or activists request funding for legal defences, or to support further content creation through streaming sites such as DLive.tv, Trovo and Entropy, and using payment methods like PayPal, Square and cryptocurrency.
‘Flexible’ rules
Ms Bogle uses the example of Thomas Sewell, a Melbourne man who is defending armed robbery, assault and violent disorder charges, and who describes himself as “a political soldier for the white race”.
His 12,500 followers across his social media channels appear to have donated money to fund his legal expenses via Buy Me A Coffee, and claimed to have donated between $US3 ($4.20) and $US50 ($70) while Mr Sewell livestreamed on Entropy, a video platform that can receive streams from the likes of YouTube while still collecting donations.
“People are familiar with cryptocurrencies now, but some of these new live-streaming platforms and subscription sites aren’t familiar unless you’re a gamer,” said Ms Bogle, adding their interconnectedness is what gives far-right extremists tools to evade moderation.
While it is difficult to determine the amounts people raise, the report says many people advertise Monero cryptocurrency wallets – a protocol designed to obfuscate and hide public transactions – to source donations, as well as requests for payment in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ether, ripple, and litecoin.
All bar two of the platforms analysed explicitly prohibited hate speech or threatening behaviour, but the report points out content and payment platforms grant themselves “considerable flexibility when it comes to interpreting and enforcing their own rules”.
“We need to consider new processes to ensure we have visibility into these online financial platforms,” said Ms Bogle.
“Australia is beginning to grapple more and more with the risk of far-right extremism and scrutinising funding should be a part of that picture.”
As it stands, some financial platforms have obligations under Australia’s AML/CTF Act to report suspicious transactions and require customer identification and verification processes.
Ms Bogle says enforcement agencies should consider whether emerging financial platforms have these obligations, also whether some online fundraising falls under the Proceeds of Crime Act, which is designed to restrict people “selling their story”.