Blog
Publicising Terrorism in Private: The Scope of the EU’s TCO Regulation
May 28, 2025
By Stuart Macdonald In a recent article, co-authored with Jonathan Hall KC, I made the argument that it is possible to disseminate terrorist propaganda to the public in (what may be regarded by some as) private online spaces. Here, I outline this argument and consider its relevance to the EU’s Terrorist Content Online (TCO) Regulation. ...
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What Do Incels.is Users Post Before Going Silent?
May 21, 2025
By Bo Min Keum Background Research suggests that participating in online forums give Incels a sense of belonging and validation for their shared grievances and struggles. Therefore, posing the question; why would they stop posting, and what do they say before they do? Given the emerging research on Incel posting trajectories, and the need for ...
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Beyond the Battlefield: How Kashmir’s War Narrative Enables Digital Radicalisation
May 13, 2025
By Shaswati Das On 10 May, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire, after finding themselves at the precipice of yet another all-out war. Had the war unfolded, it would have been the fifth war between both nuclear-armed nations, in the last eight decades. Underpinning India’s retaliatory action is the act of one group – ...
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Exploring the Evolution of Posting Behavior and Language Use in a Racially and Ethnically Motivated Extremist Forum
May 7, 2025
By Sydney Litterer, Ryan Scrivens, Thomas W. Wojciechowski, and Richard Frank This article summarizes a recent study published in Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression. Research exploring the online posting patterns and behaviors in spaces known for facilitating violent extremism, especially in online spaces steeped in racially and ethnically motivated (REM) extremist ideologies, has ...
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Reclaiming Our Narratives: A Needs-Based Approach to Countering Extremist Disinformation Online
April 30, 2025
By Anna Kruglova and Bruce White The digital landscape demands evolving strategies against violent extremism and terrorism online. Traditional counter-measures by professional institutions often struggle to keep pace with the sophisticated propaganda and disinformation disseminated by extremist groups and hostile actors. Their ability to adapt quickly necessitates democratizing counter-efforts, empowering communities to safeguard online spaces. ...
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The UK’s Online Safety Act and ‘Terrorist Content’
April 23, 2025
By Katy Vaughan Ofcom, as the UK’s independent regulator of ‘Online Safety’ is taking a phased approach to the implementation of the Online Safety Act, which passed into law in October 2023. In December 2024 Ofcom published its statement on the progress of the first phase of implementation which focuses on ‘illegal harms’, including the ...
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Adolescence is a technical masterpiece that exposes the darkest corners of incel culture and male rage
April 16, 2025
Kate Cantrell, University of Southern Queensland and Susan Hopkins, University of the Sunshine Coast Filmed in a one-take style, Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham’s new crime drama Adolescence is being hailed by critics as a technical masterpiece. Out now on Netflix, the four-part series follows the fallout surrounding 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) after he ...
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“Catch 22”: Navigating Institutional Ethics and Researcher Welfare in Online Extremism and Terrorism Research
April 9, 2025
By Joe Whittaker, Elizabeth Pearson, Ashley A. Mattheis, Till Baaken, Sara Zeiger, Farangiz Atamuradova, & Maura Conway There are two words that will strike fear into the hearts of many researchers of online deviance: “Ethics Committee.” Attend a conference or workshop, it is commonplace to have discussions about bureaucratic nightmares which stifle the ability of ...
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Unpacking the Role of Leadership in Decentralized Extremist Networks
April 2, 2025
By Joseph Stabile The US State Department’s 13 January designation of The Terrorgram Collective and three of its leaders serves as the bookend of the now-departed Biden Administration’s efforts to confront white supremacist extremism—a process that began with a presidentially-directed interagency review in January 2021. On its own, the designation carries significant implications for potential ...
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Balancing Security and Privacy: The Encryption Dilemma in Counter-Terrorism
March 26, 2025
By Amelia Cho Introduction The rapid advancement of digital communication technologies has intensified the debate between national security and user privacy. End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is widely regarded as a fundamental tool for protecting digital communications, yet it is also exploited by terrorist organisations to evade surveillance. This blog examines the challenges posed by E2EE in ...