Blog
Comparing Topic and Tone of Tweets by Far-Right Political Parties Versus Right-Wing Extremist Movements in the Netherlands, UK, and Germany
May 13, 2020
By Suzanne Mos The Internet is a good place to get a sense of what topics certain groups or movements deem important. In this Blog post, I present the findings of comparative mixed methods research addressing the question ‘How does the use of Twitter by far-right political parties differ from right-wing extremist movements in terms ...
Blog
Where to Publish Academic Research on Online Extremism and Terrorism?: What We Can Learn from Journal Article Entries in VOX-Pol’s Online Library
May 7, 2020
By Louise Laing and Maura Conway One of the questions we get asked quite often at VOX-Pol—by not just PhD students and early career researchers, but established scholars too and, in fact, that we quite often ask ourselves! — is ‘what are appropriate academic journals for publication of research on online extremism and terrorism?’ A generic ...
Blog
How do Social Media Users Talk about Terrorism Online?
April 29, 2020
By Dr. Alton Chua and Dr. Snehasish Banerjee Terrorism remains a persistent challenge worldwide. While portrayed as a threat to society and human civilisation by mainstream media, terrorists sell terrorism as freedom fighting via social networking sites and private messaging platforms. However, the actual workings of terrorism are largely shrouded in secrecy. For the curious, a ...
Blog
Kimberly Pullman: A Canadian Woman Lured Over the Internet to the ISIS Caliphate
April 22, 2020
By Anne Speckhard “If I was going to die at least I could die helping children. [It’s] illogical that you are entering a war zone that you don’t know anything about … I felt if I did something good it would overwrite the bad that had happened.” — Canadian 46-year-old Kimberly Pullman, speaking about her decision ...
Blog
Transparency Reporting for Smaller Platforms
April 15, 2020
By Tech Against Terrorism Transparency reporting is an important way for the tech sector to increase awareness of its internal content moderation decision-making processes. Reporting can also increase transparency around information and takedown requests made of tech platforms by external entities, such as law enforcement agencies or governments. With regards to terrorism and online terrorist ...
Blog
The National Security Implications of Extreme Misogyny
April 8, 2020
By Elise Thomas Online radicalisation has been a significant point of focus for the national security community in recent years. Much of this attention has been directed, rightly, at the risks posed by Islamic extremism, far-right extremism and white supremacist movements. However, far less attention has been paid to an equally dangerous and arguably more ...
Blog
How Memes are Becoming the New Frontier of Information Warfare
April 1, 2020
By Tom Ascott Everyone has seen a meme, whether they know it or not. They’re everywhere on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The most popular ones make it off the Internet and show up in newspapers, television shows or films. You’ve almost certainly seen Pepe the Frog, and if you haven’t seen the classic ‘Woman yelling ...
Blog
Understanding the Human Rights Risks Associated with Internet Referral Units
March 26, 2020
By Jason Pielemeier and Chris Sheehy Since 2010, a small number of European governments have created formal, government structures for flagging alleged terrorist content directly to companies for voluntary removal under their respective terms and conditions. A review of these Internet Referral Units (IRUs) conducted by the Global Network Initiative, with help from Harvard Law ...
Blog
Christchurch’s Legacy of Fighting Violent Extremism Online Must Go Further – Deep into the Dark Web
March 18, 2020
By Dr. Joe Burton It didn’t take long for a terrorist to show how hard it is to prevent violent extremist content being shared online. Within six months of the attacks at two Christchurch mosques on March 15 last year, which were live streamed on Facebook, a far-right terrorist’s attack at a German synagogue was ...
Blog
Technology and the Swarm: A Dialogic Turn in Online Far-Right Activism
March 11, 2020
By Dr. William Allchorn In late January this year, the outgoing director general of the UK’s domestic intelligence agency, Sir Andrew Parker, suggested that technology was one of the biggest challenges facing the UK’s Security Services. Sir Andrew said he was particularly interested in artificial intelligence “because of our need to be able to make sense of ...