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The Importance of Proportionality and Transparency in the Moderation of Borderline Terrorist and Violent Extremist Content
December 13, 2023By Ellie Rogers Most major tech companies are actively removing illegal content such as terrorist and violent extremist content (TVEC) as part of the e-Commerce directive. However, there has been an increasing focus on the need for tech companies to address borderline TVEC proportionately, consistently and transparently. There is no universal definition for borderline TVEC, ...
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The Plight of Straight White Men: Main Findings from a Study of the Subreddit r/unpopularopinion
December 6, 2023By Kenneth R. Hanson, C.J. Pascoe, and Ryan Light This article summarizes a recent paper published in Sex Roles that examines how cultural issues of masculinity, whiteness, and straightness are expressed and valued on the semi-anonymous online forum Reddit. Today’s world might seem more egalitarian than ever, with legal rights protecting numerous minority populations ...
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VOX-Pol Newsletter 10(4) December 2023
December 5, 2023Welcome to Volume 10, Issue 4 of the VOX-Pol Newsletter. UPCOMING VOX-Pol ONLINE EVENTS Look out for two VOX-Pol online events coming up in December. The first of the VOX-Pol Next Gen Academic Survival Workshops takes place on Wednesday 6 December on the topic of Early Career Researcher Safety, Well-Being, and Ethics. We will explore the complexities, challenges, and dangers of studying ...
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Why We Fight: The Moral Roots of Violent Extremism
November 29, 2023By Lindsay Hahn Terrorists killed more than 20,000 people in 2019 alone. According to the Global Terrorism Database, more than 900,000 actors were responsible for directly perpetrating over 200,000 terrorist attacks between the years of 1970-2019. Countless additional actors are likely to have indirectly helped the groups plan their attacks. Although it might seem reasonable ...
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EDL 2.0 and the Online Threat to Democracy
November 22, 2023By Elizabeth Pearson In 2018 Twitter removed radical right activist turned self-styled ‘journalist’ Tommy Robinson from the platform. Five years later, he is back. What are the implications for British politics and extremism? Tommy Robinson is the latest of a group of extreme and anti-Islam actors Elon Musk has readmitted to Twitter/X. Robinson’s account reappeared ...
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Hamas Telegram in the Immediate Wake of Their 7 October Terrorist Attack(s): Part 2 – Propaganda content
November 16, 2023By Sean McCafferty & Kamil Yilmaz This analysis is Part 2 of a two-part post. Both are based on data gathered between 7 October and 9 October 2023 from two Telegram channels sharing propaganda related to the unfolding violence in Israel and Palestine: an official Telegram channel of the al-Qassam Brigades and an unofficial pro-Hamas ...
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Hamas Telegram in the Immediate Wake of Their 7 October Terrorist Attack(s): Part 1 – Activity Levels
November 8, 2023By Sean McCafferty & Kamil Yilmaz On the morning of Saturday, 7 October 2023, a barrage of rockets targeted Israel from Gaza, followed by militants from a variety of Gaza-based terrorist organisations breaking through checkpoints and military positions around Gaza and entering Israel. This led to unprecedented violence against nearby Israeli military positions, kibbutzim, and ...
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Mothers And Militants: The Reproductive Politics of The Extreme-Right
November 1, 2023By Simon a. Purdue Introduction Reproductive politics lie at the very heart of the gender ideology of the extreme-right. The ‘propagation of the race and nation’ has been a core tenet of social thought across the right-wing spectrum for the past two hundred years, and while within conservatism the racial rhetoric has been largely replaced ...
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Content Moderation Through Removal of Service: Content Delivery Networks and Extremist Websites
October 26, 2023By Seán Looney Introduction Kiwifarms was an internet forum known for its active targeting and harassment of trans people. In August 2022, the forum set its sights on Canadian Twitch Streamer and trans activist, Clara Sorrenti, also known as Keffals. The forum members called in the police to a fake bomb threat to her home and ...
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Improving Your Counter-Terrorism Response: An Introduction to the Guide on the European Regulation on Addressing the Dissemination of Terrorist Content Online
October 18, 2023By Sophia Rothut, Heidi Schulze, Diana Rieger, Catherine Bouko, Brigitte Naderer The European regulation on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online (TCO Regulation) is, like the DSA, an approach to combating the spread of terrorist content online that is (1) transnational (EU-wide) and (2) holds Hosting Service Providers (HSPs) accountable. According to this regulation, ...