Between the “Camp of Falsehood” and the “Camp of Truth”: Exploitation of Propaganda Devices in the “Dabiq” Online Magazine
February 20, 2025
This paper attempts to fill the gap in research and contribute to the academic debate on the online magazines of Daesh. Its primary objective is to identify and understand propaganda devices, which were exploited by the editors of “Dabiq” to influence its readers. In order to do this, the study utilized a classic framework of ...
The Criminalization of Online Terrorism Preparatory Acts Under International Law
February 20, 2025
Terrorist organizations increasingly resort to the Internet to promote terrorism, recruit new terrorists, plan and finance their operations. The paper first proposes a definition of terrorism, cyberterrorism, and online terrorism preparatory acts. It then analyses whether current binding international instruments on terrorism, organized crime or cybercrime could prohibit cyber activities precursor of terrorism. The paper ...
Cryptoterrorism: Assessing the Utility of Blockchain Technologies for Terrorist Enterprise
February 20, 2025
Much recent policy discourse has pivoted on the relationship between terrorist campaigns and an emergent feature of the global financial landscape in the form of cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies are a subset of digital currencies that are distributed by the developers thereof. The various unique features of cryptocurrencies have led to discussion in punditry about how terrorists ...
Online Jihadi Storytelling: The Case of Najm al-Din Azad
February 20, 2025
Despite great interest in the importance of “narrative” to the global jihadi movement, research on actual examples of jihadi storytelling has been very limited to date. In this paper, I discuss the phenomenon of jihadi storytelling, specifically in digital contexts, focusing on the case study of one storyteller in particular: “Najm al-Din Azad”, a Saudi ...
Listening to the “Voice of Islam”: The Turkestan Islamic Party’s Online Propaganda Strategy
February 20, 2025
This article aims to map the online propaganda presence and activities of the Turkestan Islamic Party’s media arm—Islam Awazi (“Voice of Islam”). It also discusses its capabilities in terms of producing new releases and attracting online audiences. In order to reach these objectives, this study exploited a methodology which is a combination of open source ...
Reclaim the Beach: How Offline Events Shape Online Interactions and Networks Amongst Those Who Support and Oppose Right-Wing Protest
February 20, 2025
In this paper we examine how offline protests attended by members of the Australian far-right shape online interactions. Tweets about the 2019 St Kilda beach rally were collected. Users were manually classified as supporters (n = 104) or opponents of the rally (n = 872). Network analysis demonstrated that interactions between the two groups increased at the time of the ...
Exposure to Extremist Content and Public Sympathy for ISIS
February 20, 2025
This study examines how individuals’ exposure to ISIS-related propaganda affects public sympathy for ISIS. We examine the extent that each type of communication channel (e.g. online media, traditional offline media, and in-person interactions) affects an individual’s perceptions of ISIS. We use a nationally representative sample (N = 1,609) from Turkey, which has played an important role during ...
How Jihadi Salafists Sometimes Breach, But Mostly Circumvent, Facebook’s Community Standards in Crisis, Identity and Solution Frames
February 20, 2025
We analyzed posts written by Facebook profiles who advocate violent jihad without supporting any terrorist group. They share extremist content in the middle of regular posts, thanks to which they are likely to reach a large audience. We identified to what extent their ingroup-outgroup opposition is constructed in crisis, identity, and solution frames and how ...
Exploring the Relationship between Opportunity and Self-Control in Youth Exposure to and Sharing of Online Hate Content
February 20, 2025
The rise of the Internet has dramatically increased the degree to which youth may be exposed to online hate content, and simplified the process of sharing this content with others. Viewing messages that contain hate speech or language vilifying others can increase an individual’s risk of radicalization to extremist views and the acceptance of violent ...
Cyberhate The Far Right in the Digital Age
February 20, 2025
Cyberhate: The Far Right in the Digital Age explores how right-wing extremists operate in cyberspace by examining their propaganda, funding, subcultures, movements, offline violence, and the ideologies that drive it. Scholars and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines and professions including criminal justice, psychology, cybersecurity, religion, law, education, and terrorism studies contribute to provide an ...