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Blog
ISIS and the Militant Jihad on Instagram, Part II: Terrorist Propagandizing and Recruitment Strategies
December 30, 2020This article is the second of a three-part series. Part one is HERE and part three is HERE. [Ed.] By Anne Speckhard and Molly Ellenberg Research on Instagram in Regard to Terrorist Propagandizing and Recruitment Strategies Most research on the impact of Instagram focuses on the different communities that exist on Instagram. While some communities, such as ...
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ISIS and the Militant Jihad on Instagram, Part I: Identifying Supporters
December 23, 2020This article is part one of a three-part series. Part two is HERE and part three is HERE. [Ed.] By Anne Speckhard and Molly Ellenberg Identifying ISIS and Militant Jihadist Supporters on Instagram Identifying those supporting jihadist ideology and groups on Instagram is a relatively simple task. By searching on Islamic terms and names often associated ...
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The Christchurch Terror Attack: A Case of Online Radicalisation?
December 16, 2020By Joe Whittaker & Chamin Herath On 15 March, 2019, a far-right terrorist conducted two consecutive attacks at Mosques in New Zealand’s capital, Christchurch. The attacker killed 51 people who had come for Friday Prayers and injured 40 more. In August of 2020 he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for his crimes. ...
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Can Social Networking Platforms Prevent Polarisation and Violent Extremism?
December 9, 2020By Vivian Gerrand The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified calls for urgent action to mitigate some of the worst harms societies are experiencing as a consequence of time spent immersed in social media environments. During the lockdowns, this immersion has gone from partial to almost total. While social media enables information to travel fast, it allows disinformation to spread ...
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Tech Against Terrorism’s Response to the EU Digital Services Act Consultation Process
December 2, 2020By Tech Against Terrorism The Digital Services Act (DSA) – announced as part of the EU Commission’s “Shaping Europe’s Digital Future” proposals in February 2020 – has recently closed its public consultation process. The purpose of the DSA is to propose clear rules on the liability for user content, framing the responsibilities of digital services ...
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Gab.com: the Pro-Trump Alternative to Social Media
November 25, 2020By Jordan McSwiney and Greta Jasser Gab.com is an alternative social networking platform closely associated with the so-called ‘Alt-Right’. Since its public launch in 2017, Gab has provided a safe space for all manner of online far-right communities, a significant portion of which place themselves squarely in the ‘#MAGA’ camp. Our research shows the important ...
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What We Get Wrong About Online Radicalization
November 18, 2020By Dimitrios Kalantzis Less than 24 hours after John Earnest opened fire at a San Diego-area synagogue killing one person and injuring three others, the focus of the developing story shifted to his digital life. News outlets reported that Earnest “posted an anti-Jewish screed online about an hour before the attack” and “praised the suspects ...
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The Terrorist Content Analytics Platform and Transparency by Design
November 11, 2020This is a response to last week’s blog post One Database To Rule Them All: The Invisible Content Cartel that Undermines the Freedom of Expression Online. [Ed.] By Tech Against Terrorism Summary Tech Against Terrorism focusses on providing practical support to the tech sector in tackling terrorist use of the internet whilst respecting human rights. ...
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One Database to Rule Them All
November 4, 2020A response to this article can be found HERE. [Ed.] By Svea Windwehr and Jillian C York The Invisible Content Cartel that Undermines the Freedom of Expression Online Every year, millions of images, videos and posts that allegedly contain terrorist or violent extremist content are removed from social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter. ...
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Blind Networks in the Extreme-Right
October 28, 2020By Ben Lee A potent combination of technology and a fractured extreme-right is producing innovative organisations that are harder to police. In April 2020 two men aged 20 and 22 were arrested after posting racist stickers in public spaces across the city of Sheffield. The stickers featured various slogans critical of the government’s handling of ...