Blog

By Jonathan Kenyon As society has embraced the Internet, opportunities for those wanting to use the online space for terrorist purposes have also grown, resulting in the spread of violent extremism and extremist ideologies within communities. Radicalisation is viewed as becoming increasingly covert, causing problems for security and intelligence services tasked with tackling this threat. ...

By Isis Garrigos The VOX-Pol Blog was launched in October 2014 and has since become one of the most visited and shared features of the VOX-Pol website. At the outset, the aim of the Blog was to publish short-form original research directly related to online extremism, online terrorism, online radicalisation, and available responses to these. ...

The VOX-Pol Blog was launched in October 2014 and turned seven years old this month. To celebrate this, VOX-Pol has been tweeting the all-time most-read posts. The all-time top five are: 5. The Far Right Online: An Overview of Recent Studies by Reem Ahmed and Daniela Pisoiu, published 13 Nov 2019 This Blog post is ...

By Suraj Lakhani There has been, especially of late, increasing concern over the misuse of video-games and associated (adjacent) platforms (e.g. Steam, Discord, Twitch, DLive) for the purposes of extremism and violent extremism. Across the European Union (and for that matter globally), policymakers, law enforcement, academics, and counter-extremism practitioners have started to engage more on ...

By Katharine Gelber Hate speech is proliferating online and governments, regulators and social media companies are struggling to keep pace with their efforts to combat it. In July 2021, the racist abuse of Black English football players on Facebook and Twitter has brought the issue to the forefront and shown how slow and ineffective the tech ...

By The SecDev Group The devastating terrorist attack in Kabul by the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) and the hasty departure of the US and coalition partners from Afghanistan is generating geopolitical tremors across Central and South Asia and beyond. And while Afghanistan is geographically distant from Bangladesh, the IS-K’s expansive digital footprint and the Taliban’s return to state power after ...

By Ross Frenett and Joost S  Video games have been stigmatised for many years, linked to many social ills including loneliness and terrorism. Not only is this often based on misguided prejudices and a misunderstanding of the gaming community in 2021, but this view risks robbing practitioners of one of the most exciting emerging methodologies ...

Welcome to Volume 8, Issue 3 of the VOX-Pol Newsletter. MOST-READ VOX-Pol BLOG POSTS OF 2021 From September 2020 to July 2021, VOX-Pol published 48 Blog posts on the topics of online extremism and terrorism. The events of 6 January, 2021 at the US Capitol led to a big increase in traffic to VOX-Pol’s online ...

By Blyth Crawford and Florence Keen In the wake of a mass shooting in Plymouth, England, fresh questions are being asked about incel culture and whether crimes committed by its adherents should be considered terrorism. Jake Davison went on a shooting spree in his hometown, killing five people, including his mother, before taking his own life. As part ...

From September 2020 to July 2021, VOX-Pol published 48 Blog posts covering many aspects of online extremism and terrorism. The events of 6 January 2021 in the US Capitol building led to a big increase in traffic to the VOX-Pol online platforms, and total page views this year has increased 30% on the previous year. ...