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. As highlighted in a recent UNICRI/VOX-Pol report, leveraging diverse skills, including those within the Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) community, is crucial. OSINT practitioners, often deeply engaged with harmful extremist narratives, can move beyond debunking to potentially inform the creation of positive alternatives – a critical capability against insidious online manipulation tactics.
The Challenge: Extremists Weaponizing Identity Online
One particularly potent tactic used by online extremists is Identity-Based Disinformation (IBD). IBD deliberately targets core identity facets (values, beliefs, heritage, group affiliations) to manipulate audiences. Extremist groups weaponize identity by exploiting fundamental human needs (belonging, security, significance, justice), presenting narrow, divisive “us vs. them” narratives as the only way to fulfill these needs. This strategy is effective online for:
- Polarizing communities along identity lines, creating fertile ground for recruitment.
- Dehumanizing target groups, justifying violence.
- Undermining trust in institutions and alternative viewpoints.
- Mobilizing individuals by linking extremist action to the defense of a threatened identity.
Limitations of Direct Confrontation & An Alternative Approach
Traditional counter-messaging often focuses on directly debunking extremist ideologies. However, as discussed previously on the Vox-Pol blog, this approach faces limitations in the online CVE context. Direct confrontation can backfire when core identities feel attacked; it often overlooks the underlying psychological needs driving susceptibility to extremist narratives; and it assumes a level of critical ‘narrative agency’ (the ability to navigate identity stories) that may be lacking in vulnerable individuals targeted by online grooming.
An alternative strategy, Positive Identity Expansion (PIE), focuses on building resilience by addressing these underlying factors. Instead of attacking divisive narratives, PIE seeks to outcompete them by:
- Actively cultivating the richness and positive potential within individuals’ existing identities.
- Providing appealing, alternative pathways to fulfill core needs (belonging, significance etc.) constructively.
- Expanding, rather than restricting, an individual’s sense of self and community, making narrow extremist narratives less appealing.
This involves developing Equal Alternative Narratives (EAN) – messages designed to be at least equally effective in meeting the underlying needs exploited by extremists, but through positive, inclusive means rooted in authentic cultural values.
Recommendations for Practice: Implementing a Needs-Based Strategy
Adopting a PIE/EAN approach to counter online extremist IBD translates into several practical recommendations for various stakeholders:
- For Practitioners (CVE, Community Leaders, Educators):
- Focus on Needs, Not Just Ideology: Shift intervention design to identify and address the specific psychological needs (belonging, status, grievance) that local extremist narratives exploit online.
- Map Local Identity Ecosystems: Understand the multiple identity layers, values, fears, and trusted sources within the communities you work with to tailor resilience efforts.
- Amplify Positive Local Narratives: Identify and promote existing authentic stories, symbols, and activities that offer constructive ways to express identity and find belonging.
- Build Narrative Literacy: Equip individuals, especially youth, with the skills to recognize how narratives shape identity and resist manipulative identity-based appeals online.
- For Researchers:
- Analyse Extremist IBD Tactics: Investigate precisely how different online extremist groups (jihadist, far-right, etc.) use IBD for recruitment, radicalization, and mobilization.
- Evaluate PIE/EAN Effectiveness: Conduct rigorous evaluations of interventions using needs-based, positive narrative approaches in online CVE contexts.
- Develop Assessment Tools: Create methods to better assess identity vulnerability and narrative agency in online environments.
- For Tech Platforms:
- Support Narrative-Based Research: Fund and collaborate on research into how platform design impacts the spread and reception of IBD and EANs.
- Explore Pro-Social Amplification: Consider mechanisms, beyond content removal, that might support the visibility of positive, community-generated alternative narratives.
- For the OSINT Community:
- Map IBD-Extremism Links: Continue identifying and analyzing how IBD campaigns specifically connect to or are leveraged by violent extremist actors online.
- Share Narrative Insights: Provide insights into the specific needs, fears, and identity triggers being exploited in extremist IBD to inform counter-efforts.
A Resource for Implementation: The “Reclaiming Our Narratives” Toolkit
Implementing these recommendations requires practical tools. The “Reclaiming Our Narratives” toolkit, developed by the Organisation for Identity & Cultural Development (OICD), is one such resource. It operationalizes the PIE/EAN approach through a structured, 7-step methodology (from analysing IBD campaigns and understanding audiences, to crafting and subtly deploying culturally resonant EANs). Designed for accessibility, it empowers non-specialists to apply these principles. It includes worksheets, ethical guidelines, AI prompts, and is hosted as an open-access resource on GitHub for collaborative improvement.
Conclusion: Towards Collaborative Resilience
Effectively countering the use of IBD by extremists online requires moving beyond reactive measures towards proactively building societal resilience through needs-based, identity-affirming strategies. The Positive Identity Expansion approach offers a promising direction. Adopting the recommendations outlined above, supported by practical resources like the “Reclaiming Our Narratives” toolkit, can help democratize the response. By fostering collaboration between practitioners, researchers, communities, tech platforms, and the OSINT community, we can collectively build information environments more resistant to extremist manipulation and more reflective of our shared human capacity to recognize our own richness and complexity.
Dr. Anna Kruglova is Lecturer of Terrorism Studies at the School of Arts and Media at the University of Salford, an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), and a member of the AVERT Research Network. She is the author of Terrorist Recruitment, Propaganda and Branding: Selling Terror Online (Routledge, 2024). Her research focuses on terrorist propaganda, online recruitment, extremist content creation, and the role of disinformation, particularly concerning jihadist and far-right groups.
Dr. Bruce White is Director of the Organisation for Identity & Cultural Development (OICD) and primary author of the “Reclaiming Our Narratives” toolkit. His work focuses on identity, cultural development, and countering identity-based conflict.
IMAGE CREDIT: PEXELS
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