On August 26, 2026, the State Department, working with the Treasury Department, designated Autistici/Inventati (A/I), a volunteer-run collective in Italy founded in 2001 that provides privacy-focused email, websites, mailing lists and blogs, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224. The same action targeted the UK group Palestine Action and Masar Badil, which Treasury calls a front for the Samidoun network. A/I is not accused of carrying out attacks itself; it was designated for having provided “technological support for, or goods and services to or in support of, an act of terrorism.”
The State Department says A/I “builds and operates the digital infrastructure for violent Antifa cells and other far-left militants across the world,” and that it “exclusively offers its tools and services to radical left-wing actors and manually vets all potential users for ideological affinity before granting them access to its infrastructure.” It says groups have used A/I's services to “plot or incite violent attacks,” recruit, publish communiqués of U.S.-designated terrorist organizations and share maps of critical infrastructure. Treasury says A/I's users include the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a designated terrorist organization. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: “Far-left extremists, their fronts, and their enablers should be on notice: We will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear.” Treasury tied the action to the 2026 U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy, which names violent far-left groups as one of three major terrorist threats, and to the State Department's November 13, 2025 action against antifa groups.
The consequences came quickly. Two days later the U.S.-based Public Interest Registry, which operates the .org domain, suspended autistici.org, saying it was legally required to. The Italian bank Banca Etica then suspended the collective's account, citing sanctions risk, while criticizing what it described as the use of U.S. sanctions for political purposes. On September 6 A/I said it would shut down, ending service for about 16,000 mailboxes, 1,500 websites, 5,500 mailing lists and 10,000 blogs. “The possibility that our work may cause legal and financial consequences to those who are close to us, or even only have something to do with us, leaves us no choice,” it said. A/I rejects the designation and describes itself as a collective of volunteers and digital activists.
Treasury's own release says that “the United States does not sanction persons for engaging in political speech or other constitutionally protected activities.” The Charity & Security Network, which tracks sanctions law, noted what is new here: “Treasury is applying counterterrorism sanctions not only to organizations it alleges engage directly in violence, but also to entities it characterizes as providing enabling infrastructure to designated or terrorist-linked groups.” For the administration's broader designations and strategy, see Trump Designates 'Antifa' a Domestic Terrorist Organization, Though U.S. Law Has No Domestic Terrorist List and Sebastian Gorka's Counterterrorism Strategy Names 'Anarchists and Anti-Fascists' a Top Terror Threat and Targets 'Radically Pro-Transgender' Groups.