American cities burned for months in 2020 while Democrats called it a "summer of love."
Now Rubio just found the operation that kept antifa one step ahead of the FBI for 25 years.
What Rubio's State Department just put on the terrorist list connects antifa to something far bigger than street violence.
For 25 years, an Italy-based collective called Autistici/Inventati has been building and operating a full private internet for violent radicals – encrypted email, anonymous web hosting, secure video calls, and a blogging platform called NoBlogs where extremists post attack manifestos and target lists, all routed through foreign servers designed to keep law enforcement out.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Autistici/Inventati a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, blocking all U.S. transactions with the group and freezing any assets under American jurisdiction.
The official designation memo confirms the collective "manually vets all potential users for ideological affinity before granting them access" – meaning every account was screened to confirm the user held the right radical politics before getting in.
Autistici/Inventati ran a terror support operation with an ideological application process.
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Those Italian servers have American blood on them.
Benjamin Song ran the North Texas antifa cell that ambushed the Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Alvarado on July 4, 2025. Song personally shot Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross in the neck before fleeing the scene.
Before the attack, Song's cell acquired more than 50 firearms across the Fort Worth and Dallas area.
When police responded, bodycam footage captured Song yelling "get to the rifles" before opening fire and striking Lt. Gross in the neck.
Song was later convicted and sentenced to 100 years in federal prison – the first major sentencing under Trump's domestic terrorist designation of antifa.
The Washington Examiner reported that Song advanced his activist career through a leftist gun club that used Autistici/Inventati's NoBlogs platform to publish pro-insurrection messaging.
The same servers also hosted Rose City Antifa – the Portland cell that published ICE agents' names, photos, and home addresses online alongside calls for targeted attacks against them.
The State Department memo named Jane's Revenge – the group that waged a firebombing campaign against pro-life pregnancy centers after the Dobbs decision – as another user of the network that published attack claims and incited copycat violence through the platform.
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The collective's reach runs across Europe and straight into some of the most dangerous terrorist organizations on earth.
Anarchist cells behind the 2026 rail sabotage campaign in France, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands used the network to coordinate attacks, publish communiqués, and circulate bomb-making manuals targeting energy and transportation systems.
A separate far-left cell has been hitting German rail and energy infrastructure since 2011 using the same network – including a January 2026 attack on Berlin's power grid that knocked out electricity to 45,000 households and killed one person.
Another cell used Autistici/Inventati's infrastructure after the March 2026 sabotage of the Transalpine Pipeline – the attack that temporarily halted crude oil flows to Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
The State Department documented a far-left media network relying on Autistici/Inventati's tools to push official communications and calls to action for Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran's IRGC, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad – all U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations.
The group currently hosts roughly 16,000 email accounts, 1,500 websites, 5,500 mailing lists, and 10,000 blogs.
"There will be no refuge for violent extremists who wage war on our civilization," Rubio said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was direct: "We will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated."
Autistici/Inventati called the sanctions "disproportionate" and "desperate" and vowed to continue operating.
They've had 25 years of operating without consequences. That ended under the Trump administration.
Sources:
- "Designation of Autistici/Inventati as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist," U.S. Department of State, August 26, 2026.
- Gabe Kaminsky, "Italian 'Extremist Group' Sanctioned by Trump for Helping Leftists Evade Law Enforcement Worldwide," Washington Examiner, August 26, 2026.
- Jeff Charles, "State Dept. Takes Massive Action Against Group Aiding Antifa, Hamas," Townhall, August 26, 2026.
- "Leader of Antifa Cell Members in North Texas Sentenced to 100 Years in Prison for Terrorist Attack on ICE Facility," U.S. Department of Justice, June 23, 2026.
- "Nine Convicted in North Texas ICE Attack as Kash Patel Issues Warning to Those Who Target Federal Officers," Fox News, March 2026.
