Blog

By Linda Schlegel Over the last two years, the potential nexus between gaming and extremism has received a lot of attention. Researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and international organisations such as the EU and the UN have all declared the topic to be a key area of concern. However, surprisingly little is known about how and why extremists ...

This article summarizes a recent study published in Terrorism and Political Violence. By Ryan Scrivens Although there is an ongoing need for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to identify and assess the online activities of violent extremists prior to their engagement in violence offline, little is empirically known about their online posting patterns generally or ...

By Annukka Kurki and Veera Tuomala Although they have been around since the first newspapers were printed, fake news, disinformation, misinformation, and conspiracy narratives seem to be more prominent in our everyday lives than ever before. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on an onslaught of new conspiracies and the spread of dangerous misinformation has been ...

By Anne Craanen and Charley Gleeson Terrorist use of the internet is a complex and multi-faceted threat which requires an equally nuanced response. Terrorists use a wide ecosystem of tech platforms for a variety of purposes, composed of external (public propaganda dissemination) and internal (operational maintenance) communications. Our analysis shows that within the ecosystem of ...

By the Institute of Strategic Dialogue Research Team On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) researchers have been tracking and monitoring Salafi-jihadists across social media platforms, who look to radicalise and influence lone actor attacks, for over a year. In doing so, ISD has identified a networked community of ...

By Joan Barata I. Freedom of expression and threats to national security Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) protects the right to freedom of expression as a universal right and strictly limits the powers of states to impose restrictions and conditions to its exercise. However, paragraph 3 of the ...

By Joey Düker A recent paper I co-wrote with Cathrine Thorleifsson (C-REX, Norway) for the Radicalisation Awareness Network addresses the importance of digital environments for so-called Lone Actor terrorists. As a brief guide for practitioners, I will expand on the various roles that different platforms serve in this context, with a focus on the far ...

By Elisa Orofino A “proto-state”, a “socio-political movement, the ”beast“ – all names given to a single group that, at its height, seemed to embody the west’s worst nightmare. Islamic State appeared to be a motivated, well-led insurgency group dedicated to building its own “caliphate” in conquered areas across the Middle East. Now, the recent violent ...

by Elizaveta Gaufman Russian far-right watchers might have not paid much attention to Vladislav Pozdnyakov – next to neofascist Alexander Dugin or late neo-Nazi leader Maxim Martsinkevitch, he seemed to be a marginal character, attracting 155k supporters on Russian social network Vkontakte at the height of his fame. However, Pozdnyakov and his now banned organization “the Male State” need ...

By Ben Marshall The term ‘behavioural analytics’ means different things to different people and is often banded about loosely. In many cases, it is used as a catch-all term for the analysis of ‘big data’ that is considered to represent ‘behaviour’ in some form or another, such as social media posts or website clicks, often ...