Blog

By Joe Whittaker (Swansea University), William Costello (University of Texas at Austin), and Andrew Thomas (Swansea University) Involuntary Celibates (incels) have become a prescient security concern in recent years. This is, in large part, due to the handful of terror attacks conducted by individuals who are part of the online movement, who forge a sense ...

Stuart Macdonald, Swansea University; Ashley A. Mattheis, Dublin City University, and David Wells, Swansea University Every minute, millions of social media posts, photos and videos flood the internet. On average, Facebook users share 694,000 stories, X (formerly Twitter) users post 360,000 posts, Snapchat users send 2.7 million snaps and YouTube users upload more than 500 ...

Welcome to Volume 11, Issue 3 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. NEW VOX-Pol REPORT VOX-Pol is pleased to publish its newest report, Online Jihadist Propaganda Dissemination Strategies, by Stuart Macdonald and Sean McCafferty. The report is available in full and for free on the VOX-Pol Publications page. The authors discussed the new report on a Tech Against Terrorism Podcast episode last week, titled ‘How ...

By Jonathan Collins This piece examines how far-right online communities on the social media platform Gab Social are built through identity-building narratives. It is also part of a recently published article in Terrorism and Political Violence. Introduction Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are taking steps to counter harmful far-right content and ...

Today, Tuesday 5 March 2024, VOX-Pol publishes its newest report, Online Jihadist Propaganda Dissemination Strategies, by Stuart Macdonald and Sean McCafferty. The report is available in full and for free on the VOX-Pol Publications page. The authors discussed the new report on a Tech Against Terrorism Podcast episode last week, titled ‘How has the Online ...

By Lea Brost The Seeing Eye to Eye: Developing Sustainable Multistakeholder Communities (SE2E) project was developed and funded through the 2022 Terrorism and Social Media (TASM) Conference sandpit event. The project aim is conducting empirical research into how various stakeholders view and experience multistakeholderism in countering terrorism and violent extremism online (TVE) as part of ...

by Sam Jackson and JM Berger Generative AI tools have exploded in number and complexity within a few short years. Products such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, and countless others represent a massive leap forward over earlier efforts in both text and image generation. Some AI evangelists even suggest that these models could soon supplement or replace people in professional roles, including ...

By Matthew K. Carter On July 9, 2022, fourteen-year-old Ethan Reyes, better known as drill rapper Notti Osama, was stabbed to death on a New York City subway platform during a confrontation with a fifteen-year-old rival gang member. A couple months later, drill rappers Kyle Richh, Tata, and Jenn Carter, all members of the rap ...

Welcome to Volume 11, Issue 2 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. VOX-Pol SUMMER EVENTS Swansea University is delighted to, once again, host the VOX-Pol Summer School in 2024. This week-long course will run from Monday 10 to Friday 14 June 2024 (from 9am-5pm) and is designed to provide early career researchers with an expert-led curriculum on ...

VOX-Pol Next Gen Conference – Call for Papers and Participants The VOX-Pol Next Generation Network invites early career researchers to submit papers for, and participate in, a new one-day conference on June 17th, 2024, immediately preceding the annual TASM conference. Hosted at Swansea University by VOX-Pol’s new Next Gen Network, this event offers a unique ...