Post Type Description
Digital Reconstruction: A Critical Examination of the History and Adaptation of Ku Klux Klan Websites
August 28, 2024In response to the data revolution, academic research and media attention have increasingly focused on the technological adaptation and innovation displayed by the far right. The greatest attention is paid to social media and how groups and organizations are utilizing technological advancement and growth in virtual networks to increase recruitment and advance radicalization on a ...
Building Digital Resilience in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism
August 28, 2024This publication of SEARCCT’s Selection of Articles (SOA) 2023 Special Issue: “Building Digital Resilience in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE)” aims at providing an all encompassing overview of the inaugural SEARCCT’s International Conference 2023 (S.I.C.) 2023 proceedings, which was held from 13 to 15 June 2023 in Kuala Lumpur. The publication also includes articles ...
Gendered Extremism in the Pacific on 4chan: A Mixed-methods Exploration of Australian and New Zealanders’ Concepts of Women, Gender, and Sexual Violence on /Pol/
August 28, 2024The association between 4chan and online extremist subcultures has seen increasing academic scrutiny—particularly following the 2019 Christchurch attack by a right-wing terrorist who frequented the anonymous forums. Gender-based extremism features as one (of many) critical subcultures that commands our academic attention, though few studies to date have sought to capture and assess the entire landscape ...
Hybrid Movements, Digital Technology, and the Rise and Fall of Far-Right Islamist Protest Mobilization in Indonesia
August 28, 2024What explains the rise and fall of far-right Islamist protest mobilization in contemporary Indonesia? The 2016-2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election witnessed significant growth in support for and mobilization of the far-right. While far-right Islamist mobilization has occurred regularly since the fall of the authoritarian Suharto regime in 1998, its longevity and impact on electoral politics has ...
The Gab Project: The Methodological, Epistemological, and Legal Challenges of Studying the Platformized Far Right
August 28, 2024In this article we describe our five-year research project on the notorious radical free speech service and fringe platform Gab. During these years we scraped an entire platform, prepared it into a dataset for analysis, and opened it up to a broader community of students and researchers. Each of these projects provides us not just ...
Drowning in the Flood: Social Media Platforms’ Failure to Manage Harmful and Pro-Terror Content During Israel-Hamas War
August 28, 2024An empirical study by the Israel Internet Association analyzes the manner and quality of response by various social media platforms to 447 verified and confirmed reports of harmful content. These reports were submitted to the platforms by the Association’s Internet Safety Hotline, recognized by most platforms as an official Trusted Flagger, after meticulously confirming that ...
Young People Challenging Violent Extremism Online: Insights from Asia
August 28, 2024This report examines online youth‑led initiatives involved in challenging violent extremism (CVE). It focuses on the 2013–2023 online presence of 13 youth organisations, namely: KRIS (Philippines), Youth for Peace Movement Davao de Oro (Philippines), United Voice for Peace Network Inc. (Philippines), Global Peace Youth (Philippines), Students Against Violence Everywhere, Paiman Alumni Trust, Sri Lanka Unites, ...
DOWN THE ALT-RIGHT RABBIT HOLE: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS IN THE RADICALIZATION OF DOMESTIC RIGHT-WING TERRORISTS.
August 22, 2024The article focuses on the role of social media platforms in the radicalization of domestic right-wing terrorists. It discusses a specific case of a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, where the shooter was radicalized online. It highlights the shooter’s use of social media platforms like 4chan, known for hosting extremist content, and the livestreaming ...
Is He /ourguy/, a False Flag, or Something Else? Debating Breivik’s and Tarrant’s Terrorism on 4chan’s /pol/ Board
August 22, 2024Academic literature widely assumes that extremist-housing online forums, like 4chan, uniformly celebrate acts of right-wing terrorism (e.g. via “sainthood memes”), such as those committed by Anders Breivik and Brenton Tarrant. Aside from a handful of exceptions, this body of research typically fails to acknowledge that ideologically likeminded individuals on 4chan also regularly debate the merits of both ...
How virtual relationality enables the incel collective, its narrative and violence
August 22, 2024Involuntary celibates (incels) are individuals who feel alienated from society because of their perceived inability to attract women. They share a narrative which valorises violence as a means to restructure society according to misogynistic ideals. Since promoting a radical misogynistic ideology through violence is legally prohibited and socially unacceptable, it is necessary for incels to ...