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By  Jennifer Yang Hui In the wake of high-profile terrorist activities in Indonesia, social media’s role in violent extremism is once again under scrutiny. The 36-hour standoff on 8 May 2018 between inmates linked to the so-called Islamic State (IS) and prison officers at Mako Brimob (the detention centre of the Indonesian National Police Mobile ...

Read in Dutch Read in French Read in German Earlier this month, VOX-Pol published The Alt-Right Twitter Census, an analysis of the online activities of the right-wing umbrella movement. The report examined almost 30,000 followers of Twitter accounts that self-identified as alt-right in their user names or profile information. The report painted a picture of ...

    Read in English Read in French Read in German Eerder deze maand publiceerde VOX-Pol de Alt-Right Twitter Census, bedoeld om de online activiteiten te analyseren van uiterst rechts. Het rapport inventariseerde bijna 30.000 volgers van zelfverklaarde extreemrechtse Twitter-accounts, met gebruikmaking van gebruikersnamen of profielgegevens. Het zwaartepunt van de beweging die door het rapport ...

    Read in English Read in Dutch Read in German Au début du mois, VOX-Pol a publié l’Alt-Right Twitter Census, une analyse des activités en ligne de ce « mouvement parapluie » de droite. Ce rapport a examiné près de 30 000 adeptes de comptes Twitter qui s’auto-identifient comme souscrivant à ce mouvement par leurs identifiants ...

    Read in English Read in French Read in Dutch VOX-Pol hat diesen Monat den Alt-Right Twitter Census, eine Analyse der Online-Aktivitäten der rechtsextremen Leitbewegung, veröffentlicht. Der Bericht wertet Daten von fast 30.000 Followern von Twitter-Accounts aus, die sich in ihren Benutzernamen oder Profilinformationen selbst zur Alt-Right bekennen. Der Bericht schildert eine Bewegung, deren ...

By Daniel Baldino & Kosta Lucas The Internet’s precise role in the process of radicalisation remains vexing. You can lead a person to a bomb-making manual, but you can’t make them use it. Radicalisation is a social process. It refers to a means by which an individual or group embraces an extreme ideology and rejects ...

By Ahmad Helmi Bin Mohamad Hasbi and Remy Mahzam Synopsis Given their transaction anonymity and user-friendliness, cryptocurrencies appeal to extremist groups as they offer a viable alternative to the mainstream financial system and fiat money which are perceived as ‘kafir’ (infidel) currencies. The threat of cyber-driven terrorist financing is expected to grow. Commentary Bitcoins and ...

By Linda Schlegel & Till Baaken In recent years, radicalisation, its causes and facilitating conditions as well as possible counter-strategies have been widely discussed within the academic community, among practitioners, and by politicians. Today, there are a variety of radicalisation models available in order to facilitate our understanding of this phenomenon and the empirical evidence is progressively ...

By Laura Jakli and Paul Gill This blog post summarises the preliminary results of a VOX-Pol supported study that estimates the effects of social media echo chambers on political polarisation. Social Media and Political Polarisation Countless news articles and studies argue that social media exacerbates political polarisation and distorts the political news landscape. The general argument put ...

By Jade Hutchinson The ‘Right’ Kind of Dogma Radical-right groups harness online platforms to disseminate dogmas against the ‘Other’. In response to an influx of foreign migrants, the concatenation of Islamist terrorism and record levels of distrust in government institutions, the radical-right is invigorated by an aggressive anti-‘Other’ sentiment. As the source of social anxiety and ...