Blog
The Dangers of Generative AI and Extremism
February 21, 2024
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 ...
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The Passive Extremism of Social Media in the Bronx Drill Scene
February 14, 2024
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 ...
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VOX-Pol Newsletter 11(2) February 2024
February 13, 2024
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 ...
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Are you interested in the inaugural VOX-Pol Next Generation Network Conference?
February 8, 2024
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 ...
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A picture is worth a thousand (s)words: classification and diffusion of memes on a partisan media platform
February 7, 2024
By Esteban Villa-Turek, Rod Abhari, Mowafak Allaham, Chloe Mortenson & Ayse D. Lokmanoglu Introduction On November 3, 2020, as presidential votes were being cast around the United States, another form of political discussion was taking place on Parler, a far-right social media platform. Users had been using memes to shape the discussion around political events ...
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Seeing Eye to Eye: Viewing Multistakeholder Work through a Participatory Lens
January 31, 2024
By Ashley A. Mattheis 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 ...
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Exploiting Political Crises: How Terrorists’ Polarize the Public and Garner Support in their Propaganda Campaigns
January 24, 2024
By Mor Yachin & Rebecca Wilson In a world marked by political unrest and turmoil, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is among the most polarizing and contested conflicts in history – one that offers tremendous persuasive power to extremist propaganda. Groups like Al Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have become increasingly adept at producing ...
News
VOX-Pol Summer School 2024: Call for Participants
January 23, 2024
VOX-Pol Summer School ’24 – Call for Participants 10 – 14 June 2024, Swansea University, Singleton Campus Course Directors: Prof. Maura Conway; Prof. Stuart MacdonaldAcademic Lead: Dr Joe Whittaker 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 ...
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New VOX-Pol report: The Last Twitter Census
January 23, 2024
The newest VOX-Pol Publication, The Last Twitter Census by JM Berger, is now available free-to-access on the VOX-Pol Publications page. This report compares two large random samples of Twitter accounts that tweet in English: one taken just before Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022, and one taken three months later, in January 2023. It also examines several related ...
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JeSuisCharlie a été l’un des hashtags les plus populaires de l’histoire – voici pourquoi cela n’arriverait pas aujourd’hui
January 17, 2024
Par Emma Connolly, The Open University Cela fera neuf ans le 7 janvier qu’une fusillade a éclaté à l’hebdomadaire satirique Charlie Hebdo, tuant 12 de ses employés et en blessant 11 autres. Cette attaque a suscité un élan de solidarité immédiat et sans précédent dans le monde entier. Une grande partie de ce soutien a ...