Feds, tech fall short on watching extremists, Senate says

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are failing to adequately monitor domestic extremists, according to a new Senate report that also faulted social media platforms for encouraging the spread of violent and antigovernment content.

The report, issued Wednesday by the Senate Homeland Security panel, called on federal law enforcement to reassess its overall response to the threat of homegrown terrorism and extremism.

The report recommends creating new definitions for extremism that are shared between agencies, improved reporting on crimes linked to white supremacy and antigovernment groups, and better use of social media in an effort to prevent violence, said Sen. Gary Peters, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the committee.

Growing domestic extremism has been linked to the country's widening political divide and a rise in distrust of institutions. Critics of social media's role in radicalizing extremists say that misinformation and hate speech spread online is fueling the problem, and in some cases encouraging acts of real-world violence like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Participants in that effort to illegally stop the certification of the presidential election openly discussed online their plans to come to Washington for weeks ahead of time, with some discussing the possibility of using force, Peters noted.

“Folks who were looking at what was happening on social media should have known that something very bad could potentially go down on Jan. 6 here at the Capitol,” Peters said Wednesday on a conference call with reporters.

The FBI emailed a statement to The Associated Press defending its handling of domestic terrorism in response to the report. The agency has provided comprehensive reports to Congress on the threat of domestic extremism...