Blog

The VOX-Pol Blog publishes weekly on a Wednesday, and takes a break in August, when we share the top 5 most-read post of the year. This year, VOX-Pol has published a total of thirty-two posts, covering the online far-right, incels, online jihadism, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). We also featured Blogs on legislation and research methodology. ...

Welcome to Volume 11, Issue 8 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. VOX-Pol YEAR IN REVIEW The new Violent Extremism and Terrorism Online in 2023: The Year in Review, compiled for RAN Policy Support was published on the VOX-Pol website in July. The 2023 Year in Review is written by VOX-Pol Members Maura Conway, Ashley A. Mattheis, Sean McCafferty, and Miraji H. Mohamed. The report ...

By Anne Craanen In 2021, two members of The Base (a neo-Nazi accelerationist organisation) were arrested in the Netherlands for membership of a terrorist organisation as well as attempting a terrorist plot on former Prime Minister, Mark Rutte. On Friday 26 July 2024, the European Union (EU) sanctioned The Base as a terrorist organisation under ...

By Katy Vaughan, Hadley Middleton, and Evan James The biennial Terrorism and Social Media (TASM) conference took place at Swansea University’s Bay Campus on 18th and 19th June 2024, with over 250 delegates from more than 20 countries. The event brings together a range of researchers, policymakers and practitioners from a number of different countries ...

By Elizabeth Pearson Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is now a national emergency. A new report by the UK National Police Chiefs’ Council this week noted VAWG-related crimes increased by 37% between 2018 and 2023, with male perpetrators ever younger. Much is technology-related, and police chiefs noted young men are being ‘radicalised’ into misogyny ...

By Daniel E. Levenson Successful ideologues and leaders in extremist movements have long been aware of the power that misleading, but powerfully Manichean, pseudo-historical narratives can have on audiences. The foundation of this propagandistic material is often rooted in self-serving mythologies which justify the scapegoating of others and validation of the deeply felt grievances that ...

By Steven Roberts, Monash University and Stephanie Wescott, Monash University Many parents are worried about their children using social media. But these concerns tend to focus on privacy, exposure to explicit material or contact with strangers. As researchers looking at sexism and misogyny in Australian schools and the influence of social media, we think it ...

Welcome to Volume 11, Issue 7 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. VOX-Pol AT TASM Organised by Swansea University’s Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, the Terrorism and Social Media (TASM) conference took place on 18 and 19 June. If you missed it, you can see videos of the keynote and selected presentations. The opening keynote speech from Brian Fishman can be ...

By Heidi Schulze, Brigitte Naderer, and Diana Rieger The VOX-Pol workshop “Borderline Content Online” can be viewed here Managing harmful online content remains one of the central challenges of the digital age. The advent of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, which can generate vast amounts of content quickly and with little effort, complicates this ...

By Joshua Farrell-Molloy On 26 April the UK became the first country in the world to proscribe the ‘Terrorgram Collective’. From today, membership, support, or the display of articles associated with the network is now illegal and can carry a punishment of up to 14 years in prison or an unlimited fine. The listing of Terrorgram represents a ...