Blog
Extremism in Participatory Online Communities
September 16, 2026
By J.M. Berger This article is an adapted and lightly edited excerpt from Online Extremism, a chapter in the forthcoming Routledge Handbook of Online Violent Extremism. While the Internet can be and is used as a simple broadcasting tool for spreading ideas and ideologies to new audiences, its most powerful innovation was participation. Unlike radio ...
News
Pre-order Available Now: Routledge Handbook of Online Violent Extremism
September 16, 2026
We are very pleased to announce that Routledge is publishing the Handbook of Online Violent Extremism on 29th September.  The Handbook is edited by Suraj Lakhani (University of Sussex), Stuart Macdonald (Swansea University), Julian Droogan (Macquarie University), and Lydia Khalil (Deakin University). The volume, running to around 40 chapters and drawing on more than 50 contributors, ...
Blog
Australia’s online watchdog is taking messaging app Telegram to court over ‘pro‑terrorist’ posts
September 9, 2026
Timothy Koskie, University of Sydney Popular encrypted messaging app Telegram failed to detect and remove pro-terrorist and extremist material, including videos of executions and attacks, a new lawsuit launched by Australia’s online watchdog alleges. The eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, announced in Sydney on Thursday morning she was taking legal action against Telegram in the ...
Newsletter
VOX-Pol Newsletter 13(9)
September 8, 2026
Welcome to Volume 13, Issue 9 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter The Routledge Handbook of Online Violent Extremism We are very pleased to announce that Routledge is publishing the Handbook of Online Violent Extremism on 29th September and is available to pre-order now.  The Handbook is edited by Suraj Lakhani (University of Sussex), Stuart Macdonald (Swansea University), Julian ...
Blog
Navigating Youth Fragmentation, Uncertainty, and Meaning: Insights from TASM 2026
September 2, 2026
By Sören Henrich, Jeremiah Perez-Torres, Séan Looney, and Brigitte Naderer At this year’s Terrorism and Social Media (TASM) Conference, our goal was to hear from as many different voices in the field as possible as part of launching our project, “Crisis, Connectivity, and Meaning: Exploring Youth Extremism in the Digital Age”, funded by the Critical ...
News
Back to the Classroom: VOX-Pol Resources to Support Your Teaching and Student Learning
August 20, 2026
As the new academic year gets underway, VOX-Pol is highlighting a suite of open-access digital resources designed to support university educators, researchers, and students focusing on online extremism and terrorism. From embeddable video presentations to a searchable literature database, these materials offer flexible assets for course development, classroom debates, and independent research. VOX-Pol Lecture Series ...
Newsletter
VOX-Pol Newsletter 13(8)
August 17, 2026
Welcome to Volume 13, Issue 8 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter Back to the Classroom: VOX-Pol Resources to Support Your Teaching and Student Learning With the new academic year getting underway shortly, we wanted to draw attention to some of the VOX-Pol resources available to support your teaching and student learning and research on online ...
Blog
Hollow‑Earth myths and Nazi UFOs on TikTok are bringing white supremacism into the mainstream
July 29, 2026
Marten Risius, The University of Queensland and Christopher David, Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences Eighty-one years after Adolf Hitler died by his own hand in a Berlin bunker, a viral video on TikTok shows an AI-generated vision of the Nazi dictator standing in Antarctica, shoulders broad and face smiling, sipping a White Monster Energy drink ...
Blog
From Public Commentary to Digital Polarisation: Online Narrative Escalation and Identity-Based Framing in Nigeria’s Social Media Sphere
July 22, 2026
By Moses Ameh The public comment on violence in Nigeria has been observed to change from a normal state to a polarized virtual environment within a short time on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and WhatsApp. These exchanges tend to be sparked by a statement or interpretation of insecurity-related incidents, and quickly ...
News
Global Experts Convene in Swansea: Highlights from the 5th In-Person TASM Conference
July 15, 2026
From June 16-18, the Cyber Threats Research Centre (CYTREC) at Swansea University, in proud partnership with VOX-Pol, hosted the fifth in-person Terrorism and Social Media (TASM) Conference. As one of the premier international forums addressing the intersection of digital technology and violent extremism, this year’s event drew 293 registered delegates representing 30 countries across the ...