Blog
Delivering Interventions Online
October 14, 2020By Robert Örell How do violent right-wing extremists exploit the online space? Violent right-wing extremists (VRWE) use the online space to spread their ideology and to reach vulnerable individuals to recruit online. The online platforms operated by extremist groups oftentimes help these vulnerable youngsters form new relations and build a new identity online. They report ...
Blog
‘Incel’ Violence Is a Form of Extremism. It’s Time We Treated It as a Security Threat
October 7, 2020By Sian Tomkinson, Katie Attwell and Tauel Harper In May 2020, a 17-year-old boy in Toronto was charged with an act of terrorism in the alleged killing of a woman with a machete – the first time such a charge has been brought in a case involving “incel” ideology. Also in May, a 20-year-old man ...
Blog
Triggered by Defeat or Victory? Assessing the Impact of Presidential Election Results on Extreme Right-Wing Mobilisation Online
September 30, 2020This article summarizes a recent study published in Deviant Behavior. By Ryan Scrivens, George W. Burruss, Thomas J. Holt, Steven Chermak, Joshua D. Freilich, and Richard Frank Research has overwhelmingly found that central offline events influence online activity and highlight an important interaction between people’s on- and offline worlds. Less, however, is known about the ...
Blog
The Name of the Game in Radicalisation Prevention
September 23, 2020By Michael Hartinger and Daniela Pisoiu Radicalisation and recruitment to violent extremism and terrorism occur in various ways and a myriad of rhetorical and visual elements have been used to that extent, increasingly online. Gamification and actual video games have recently increased in relevance, as Islamist and right-wing groups have recognised their potential for attracting ...
Blog
How the Radical Right Weaponises Memes
September 16, 2020By Chamila Liyanage Far-right populist nationalism seems contagious. It’s the new normal and one can only wonder how it all started, as the rise of far-right populism appears to come out of nowhere. An average reader of the mainstream media would have long overlooked the discord sowed among the ordinary people in the grassroots. Far-right ...
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Implementing Virtual Reality into UK Education Models to Counter Online Radicalisation
September 9, 2020By Alice Raven Young people remain identified as one of the most vulnerable groups at risk of online radicalisation in the UK, however using education institutions to engage with and build resilience amongst these groups remains a persistent challenge. Virtual reality as an alternative resource has been increasingly explored to help bridge the gap between ...
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VOX-Pol Newsletter 7(3) September 2020
September 8, 2020Welcome to Volume 7 Issue 3 of the VOX-Pol Newsletter. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in the content of our newsletter, or any events or research carried out by VOX-Pol, please forward this to them and encourage them to subscribe via our website. Follow us on Twitter @VOX_Pol for live updates ...
Blog
Exposure to Online Terrorist Content: Stresses and Strategies
September 2, 2020This blog post is an edited extract from the article Repeated and Extensive Exposure to Online Terrorist Content: Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit Perceived Stresses and Strategies, published in July 2020 in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. By Zoey Reeve There is increasing concern that exposure to online terrorist material may increase the risk of terrorist ...
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New on VOX-Pol’s Researcher Resources: Jobs, Fellowships and Internships
September 1, 2020After the successful launch of Researcher Resources on the VOX-Pol website in May 2020, we are pleased to add a new section: Jobs, Fellowships and Internships. Open positions will be added to the Jobs, Fellowships and Internships page as they become available, with a link to the original posting and their closing dates. The new page is a way ...
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The Top 5 Most-Read Blog Posts of 2020
August 26, 2020The VOX-Pol Blog posts weekly on Wednesdays and takes a break every August. Instead of posting in August, we like to highlight the most-read blog posts of the previous year. Fifty-one posts were published between August 2019 and July 2020, some were published simultaneously in multiple languages. Forty-six were in English, two in German, two ...