Journal Article
Tweeting terrorism: Vernacular conceptions of Muslims and terror in the wake of the Manchester Bombing on Twitter
March 4, 2025Both vernacular security studies and critical terrorism studies (CTS) offer constructivist analyses of security couched in understandings of security speak. However, neither adequately take account of the ways in which social media presents important opportunities for greater insight into how terrorism is constructed. This study analyses tweets posted after the 2017 Manchester bombing, exploring how ...
The roadmap to the Islamic state: an ethnographic analysis of sympathisers’ online training
March 4, 2025This article presents an ethnographic analysis of the online training practices IS sympathisers adopt to recruit, indoctrinate, train, and vet new affiliates. The study highlights the carefully crafted virtual ecosystem established by IS unofficial media operatives, which seeks to identify and select converts with specialised digital skills and unwavering commitment to the group’s vision of ...
Catch 22: Institutional ethics and researcher welfare within online extremism and terrorism research
March 4, 2025Drawing from interviews with 39 online extremism and terrorism researchers, this article provides an empirical analysis of these researchers’ experiences with institutional ethics processes. Discussed are the harms that these researchers face in the course of their work, including trolling, doxing, and mental and emotional trauma arising from exposure to terrorist content, which highlight the ...
Illuminating terror: content analysis of official ISIS English-language videos from 2014 to 2017
March 3, 2025This paper sheds light upon ISIS global-level media operations based on an empirical analysis of 79 official English-language videos using the Braddock and Horgan’s analytical guideline for content analysis. This study results in a quantifiable assessment of videos based on their release dates, language, media centres, duration, musical arrangement, and many other production characteristics, and ...
Fascist aspirants: Fascist Forge and ideological learning in the extreme-right online milieu
March 3, 2025Learning in extremist settings is often treated as operational, with little regard to how aspiring participants in extremist settings engage with complex and abstract ideological material. This paper examines learning in the context of the amorphous network of digital channels that compose the extreme-right online milieu. Through an in-depth qualitative analysis, we explore how well ...
How radicalizing agents mobilize minors to jihadism: a qualitative study in Spain
March 3, 2025In the context of the global jihadist mobilization triggered by the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2012 and the subsequent emergence of Islamic State, child and adolescent recruitment has reached unprecedented levels in Spain. Between 2013 and 2019, 44 jihadists were arrested in this country due to their involvement in the indoctrination and recruitment ...
Policy vs reality: comparing the policies of social media sites and users’ experiences, in the context of exposure to extremist content
March 3, 2025Social media platforms have become a prominent feature in modern-day communication, allowing users to express opinion and communicate with friends and likeminded individuals. However, with this revolutionary form of communication comes risks of exploitation and utilisation of these platforms for potentially illegal and harmful means. This article aims to explore the community guidelines and policies ...
The Contagion and Copycat Effect in Transnational Far-right Terrorism: An Analysis of Language Evidence
February 21, 2025This article corroborates the continued threat of extreme right terrorism by exemplifying textually interconnected links across linguistic evidence composed prior to or during attacks in the United States, New Zealand, Germany, Norway and Sweden. A qualitative content analysis of targeted violence manifestos and live-streams, attack announcements on online platforms, and writings on equipment (e.g., firearms) ...
Google and Corporate Social Responsibility: YouTube in the Service of Terrorism
February 21, 2025This article is concerned with the boundaries of freedom of expression on the Internet and, more specifically, with manifestations of terrorism on YouTube. The article opens with two definitions of terrorism. Section II discusses various responsibilities that businesses have: economic, legal, moral, social and discretionary. Section III addresses the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Unfortunately, ...
The Not-So-Silent “Majority”: An Automated Content Analysis of Anti-Government Online Communities
February 21, 2025The United States is facing an ongoing threat of political violence due to widespread anti-government sentiment that has proliferated across social media platforms. Most saliently, these violent sentiments manifested in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol during the certification of the 2020 general election. This research extends prior work on the online ...