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By Merlyna Lim and Brandon Rigato Weeks after the so-called “freedom convoy” protests ended, a familiar quietness has returned to the streets of downtown Ottawa. No more sounds of blaring horns and people partying into the wee hours. The only remaining visible traces are abandoned trucks in impound yards and barriers on streets. But these too will ...

This article summarizes a recent study published in Criminal Justice Policy Review. By Ryan Scrivens, Thomas W. Wojciechowski, Joshua D. Freilich, Steven M. Chermak, and Richard Frank There is an ongoing need for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to detect and assess online posting behaviors of violent extremists prior to their engagement in violence offline, but ...

By Ninian Frenguelli On Saturday, 14 May, 2022 an armed shooter entered a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, USA and shot and killed 10 people, wounding three more. The shooter live streamed the attack via the gaming-centric Twitch streaming service and left a manifesto to explain his beliefs. The 18-year-old attacker, Payton Gendron, wrote in ...

Welcome to Volume 9, Issue 2 of the VOX-Pol Newsletter. CALL FOR INFORMATION The Center for Societal Security at the Swedish Defence University is looking for examples of online preventing/countering violent extremism (P/CVE) initiatives for practitioners within the EU, from both government and NGOs. Please contact magnus.ranstorp@fhs.se if you have any suggestions. Thank you! FIRST MONDAY SPECIAL ISSUE On 2 May 2022, First Monday ...

By Eric Heinze Elon Musk is the planet’s number one billionaire. If anyone can turn cyberspace into a heaven – or hell – of free speech “absolutism” via a US$44 billion (£35 billion) Twitter takeover, then surely he’s the man. Right? When free-market elephants like Musk or Jeff Bezos (who bought the Washington Post in 2013) take charge ...

This Blog post is the final—the first is HERE, the second HERE, and the third HERE—in a four-part series of article summaries from the EU H2020-funded BRaVE project’s  First Monday Special Issue exploring societal resilience to online polarisation and extremism. Read the full article HERE [Ed.].  By Vivian Gerrand While algorithmic design is one critical component of supporting prosocial resilience to online ...

This Blog post is the third—the first is HERE and the second HERE—in a four-part series of article summaries from the EU H2020-funded BRaVE project’s  First Monday Special Issue exploring societal resilience to online polarization and extremism. Read the full article HERE [Ed.]. By Amy-Louise Watkin and Maura Conway Discussions already underway amongst not just ...

This Blog post is the second—the first is HERE—in a four-part series of article summaries from the EU H2020-funded BRaVE project’s  First Monday Special Issue exploring societal resilience to online polarization and extremism. Read the full article HERE [Ed.].  By James Fitzgerald The rise of QAnon presents researchers with a number of important questions. While emerging literature ...

This Blog post is the first in a four-part series of article summaries from the EU H2020-funded BRaVE project’s  First Monday Special Issue exploring societal resilience to online polarization and extremism. The second is HERE. Read the full article HERE [Ed.]. By Inés Bolaños Somoano This post synopsises my article ‘The right-leaning be memeing: Extremist uses ...

On 2 May 2022, First Monday published a Special Issue exploring societal resilience to online polarisation and extremism, co-edited by Amy-Louise Watkin (VOX-Pol and USW), Vivian Gerrand (Deakin University), and Maura Conway (VOX-Pol and DCU). The seven articles in this special issue were selected from those delivered at a series of workshops undertaken by the ...