Blog
Being one step ahead: How platforms (can) counter terrorism online
February 26, 2025
By Franziska Selzer To combat terrorist content online, platforms must take action. Meta, for instance, reported taking action, including removing content, covering disturbing content with a warning, and disabling accounts, against 30.8 million pieces of terrorist content on Facebook in the first three quarters of 2024. Of this content, over 99% was found by Meta ...
Blog
Assessing the Role of GAI Music in the Context of Extremism
February 19, 2025
By Jonathan Pieslak On 14 June 2024, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a US-based “anti-hate” organization focusing primarily on antisemitism, posted a provocatively entitled article, “GAI Music Creation Tool Suno Has Been Weaponized to Promote Hate”. The report highlights the ways in which Suno, a generative artificial intelligence (GAI) music-creation platform, can be exploited to create ...
Blog
Examining the Online Posting Behaviors and Trajectories of Incel Forum Members
February 12, 2025
By Brenna Helm, Thomas J. Holt, Ryan Scrivens, Thomas W. Wojciechowski, and Richard Frank This article summarizes a recent study published in Crime and Delinquency. Involuntary celibates, or incels, have been of heightened interest to scholars and practitioners due to their ongoing engagement in misogynistic and violent discourse. Yet the incel subculture is complex, requiring ...
Home Slider Newsletter
VOX-Pol Newsletter 12(2) February 2025
February 11, 2025
Welcome to Volume 12, Issue 2 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. EVENTS 2025 C-REX & VOX-Pol Summer School, 9 – 13 June 2025Studying Online Extremism: Ethics, Methods and Personal Safety  This five-day workshop is co-organized by C-REX and VOX-Pol and aims to provide PhD students with the foundation skills for studying online right-wing extremism by focusing on methodology, ethics, and ...
News
Call For Applications: C-REX and VOX-Pol 2025 Summer School
February 5, 2025
Studying Online Extremism: Ethics, Methods and Personal Safety The study of online violent right-wing extremism is an emerging and growing field in academia. However, it can also expose researchers to unique methodological challenges and risks of harm. This five-day workshop is co-organized by C-REX and VOX-Pol and aims to provide PhD students with the foundation skills for studying online ...
Blog
‘Men Win Again’: Who is far-right influencer Nick Fuentes?
February 5, 2025
By Erin Stoner Trump’s election victory was met with a barrage of online discourse; his supporters celebrated his second electoral win and his opponents solemnly braced themselves for what the next four years may bring. In mere hours after his victory, out of the online woodwork emerged right-wing political commentators, high on success. Of note, ...
Blog
Incel Paradox: Hating Others, While Hating Themselves?
January 29, 2025
By Bo Min Keum Incel communities raise concerns about their misogyny and its potential to take radical forms and inspire extremist violence. However, they also exhibit considerable self-loathing and suicidal thoughts, often discussing methods to end one’s life and their term ‘rope’ serving as a common reference to suicide. I was curious to understand the ...
Blog
Understanding How AI Fuels the Creation and Spread of Extremist Music
January 22, 2025
By Heron Lopes On March 6th, the EU DisinfoLab will host a webinar discussing the findings of “Melodies of Malice”, one of the papers featured in this blog post. For more details and registration, visit: EU DisinfoLab Webinars – Melodies of Malice. Introduction Research on extremism and counter-terrorism has long underscored the role of far-right and extremist music ...
Blog
The Band-Aid Solution of Regulation: How Moderating Social Media Can Aggravate Extremism Among Youth
January 15, 2025
By Kate Scott On December 6, 2024, the intelligence agencies of the Five Eyes alliance—Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States—released a jointly authored report outlining the increasing concern of violent extremism among youth. The report sheds light on how extremist content online is being used to recruit, groom, and mobilize ...
Home Slider Newsletter
VOX-Pol Newsletter 12(1) January 2025
January 14, 2025
Welcome to Volume 12, Issue 1 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. FEATURED PUBLICATION VOX-Pol Member, Dr Ashton Kingdon, has authored a new book titled ‘The World White Web: Uncovering the Hidden Meanings of Online Far-Right Propaganda‘, published as part of the Palgrave Hate Studies book series.  The book draws on extensive empirical research and uses an interdisciplinary perspective. ...