FBI Claims Internet Lingo Like “Based”, “Chad” and “Red Pill” Is Connected to “Extremism”

On April 10, 2023, new documents were released exposing the FBI’s latest attempt to flag common Internet slang as “Violent Extremism.” 

The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project claimed that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to expose FBI documents that feature glossaries showing that common internet slang has been flagged as a sign of “Involuntary Celibate Violent Extremism” or “Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism.”

Part of the document makes specific references to “incels,” or individuals who are “involuntary celibate,” whom the “threat overview” describes as possibly attempting to “commit violence in support of their beliefs that society unjustly denies them sexual or romantic attention, to which they believe they are entitled.” The assessment highlighted, “While most incels do not engage in violence,” some have been involved in “at least five lethal attacks in the United States and Canada.”

Many of the terms that the FBI mentioned in its list of incel slang are either popular Internet slang or harmless in nature. The one term that sticks out in the FBI glossary is “Red Pill.” The term’s origin is from the “The Matrix” and has been used metaphorically by people who see through establishment propaganda and popular narratives about culture and politics. The FBI defines this term as “a belief shared by many online communities that society is corrupt, and that the believer is a victim of this corruption.”