Blog

By Shaswati Das On 10 May, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire, after finding themselves at the precipice of yet another all-out war. Had the war unfolded, it would have been the fifth war between both nuclear-armed nations, in the last eight decades. Underpinning India’s retaliatory action is the act of one group – ...

Welcome to Volume 12, Issue 5 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. NEW PUBLICATION VOX-Pol is pleased to announce a new report in its publication series: ‘Right- and left-wing violent extremist abuse of digital technologies in South America, Africa and Asia‘. This report, jointly published by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and VOX-Pol, ...

By Sydney Litterer, Ryan Scrivens, Thomas W. Wojciechowski, and Richard Frank This article summarizes a recent study published in Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression. Research exploring the online posting patterns and behaviors in spaces known for facilitating violent extremism, especially in online spaces steeped in racially and ethnically motivated (REM) extremist ideologies, has ...

By Anna Kruglova and Bruce White The digital landscape demands evolving strategies against violent extremism and terrorism online. Traditional counter-measures by professional institutions often struggle to keep pace with the sophisticated propaganda and disinformation disseminated by extremist groups and hostile actors. Their ability to adapt quickly necessitates democratizing counter-efforts, empowering communities to safeguard online spaces. ...

By Katy Vaughan Ofcom, as the UK’s independent regulator of ‘Online Safety’ is taking a phased approach to the implementation of the Online Safety Act, which passed into law in October 2023. In December 2024 Ofcom published its statement on the progress of the first phase of implementation which focuses on ‘illegal harms’, including the ...

Kate Cantrell, University of Southern Queensland and Susan Hopkins, University of the Sunshine Coast Filmed in a one-take style, Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham’s new crime drama Adolescence is being hailed by critics as a technical masterpiece. Out now on Netflix, the four-part series follows the fallout surrounding 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) after he ...

VOX-Pol is pleased to announce a new report in its publication series: ‘Right- and left-wing violent extremist abuse of digital technologies in South America, Africa and Asia‘. This report, jointly published by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and VOX-Pol, investigates the underexplored phenomenon of right- and left-wing violent extremist groups ...

By Joe Whittaker, Elizabeth Pearson, Ashley A. Mattheis, Till Baaken, Sara Zeiger, Farangiz Atamuradova, & Maura Conway There are two words that will strike fear into the hearts of many researchers of online deviance: “Ethics Committee.” Attend a conference or workshop, it is commonplace to have discussions about bureaucratic nightmares which stifle the ability of ...

Welcome to Volume 12, Issue 4 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. UPCOMING EVENTS The Society for Terrorism Research: 17th Annual International ConferenceConference theme: The Future of Terrorism Research in a Multi-Crisis World The Society for Terrorism Research (STR) is delighted to announce that the 17th Annual International Conference will be held on July 7 and 8, 2025, at the VOX-Pol member institution ...

By Joseph Stabile The US State Department’s 13 January designation of The Terrorgram Collective and three of its leaders serves as the bookend of the now-departed Biden Administration’s efforts to confront white supremacist extremism—a process that began with a presidentially-directed interagency review in January 2021. On its own, the designation carries significant implications for potential ...