Glitterpill

Bjørn’s primary professional focus has always been on countering violent extremism. He founded the Khalifa Ihler Institute, an international think tank, lab, and consultancy organisation developing and promoting effective strategies for peacebuilding within communities. His work led to him becoming the inaugural Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, an initiative to facilitate information and technology transfer to reinforce automated content moderation.

In the aftermath of the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, Bjørn and his team were asked by the Congressional Select Committee to research the Proud Boys movement within the US. This, combined with real inroads both in policy and the private sector in the US, led Bjørn to found Glitterpill, a company focused exclusively on counter-terrorism, working in tandem with the not-for-profit Khalifa Ihler Institute. The company uses open-source intelligence to determine threat-levels, advising private sector companies on the misuse of their tools and services by extremist or proscribed organisations and on operational threats directed against their infrastructures and assets.

The mission of Glitterpill is to make the world safer for all, with a respect for human rights, human dignity, and communities at the core of the company’s ethos. Glitterpill focuses on networks, instead of on individual actions or pieces of content, to better understand the context and patterns of influence. This allows Glitterpill to tailor strategies, supporting clients in keeping their assets, infrastructure and interests safe from violent extremism and terrorism, and work with clients and partners in the tech and security sector to take strategic, targeted action, leading to the organised dissolution of online extremist networks, and reduction in threat levels. Glitterpill is working across sectors, both with the tech industry, companies in the infrastructure, energy and logistics sectors, the event and hospitality industry, and municipalities and civil society organisations focused on understanding the extremist landscape within specific regions or cities.