Mobilizing extremism online: comparing Australian and Canadian right-wing extremist groups on Facebook
September 18, 2023
Right-wing extremist groups harness popular social media platforms to accrue and mobilize followers. In recent years, researchers have examined the various themes and narratives espoused by extremist groups in the United States and Europe, and how these themes and narratives are employed to mobilize their followings on social media. Little, however, is comparatively known about ...
Race, Religion, or Culture? Framing Islam between Racism and Neo-Racism in the Online Network of the French Far Right
September 18, 2023
When debates about Islam acquire importance in the public sphere, does the far right adhere to traditional racist arguments, risking marginalization, or does it conform to mainstream values to attain legitimacy in the political system? Focusing on the aftermath of the 2015 terrorist attacks in France, I explore the framing of Islam, discussing how the ...
An Intelligence Reserve Corps to Counter Terrorist Use of the Internet
September 18, 2023
“Never before in history have terrorists had such easy access to the minds and eyeballs of millions,” declared one journalistic account of the Islamic State’s propaganda machine and proficient use of Twitter, Facebook, bots, and other modern means of getting its message out. Such views that the group’s “mastery of modern digital tools” has transformed ...
Exposure to Extremist Online Content Could Lead to Violent Radicalization:A Systematic Review of Empirical Evidence
September 18, 2023
The main objective of this systematic review is to synthesize the empirical evidence on how the Internet and social media may, or may not, constitute spaces for exchange that can be favorable to violent extremism. Of the 5,182 studies generated from the searches, 11 studies were eligible for inclusion in this review. We considered empirical ...
Countering Hate Speech on Facebook: The Case of the Roma Minority in Slovakia
September 18, 2023
This article explores hate speech against the Roma in Slovakia on Facebook between April 2016 and January 2017 and the impact of fact-checking and personal experience strategies in countering hate speech through a quasi-experimental research design. It examines how the Roma were constructed and how discussion participants reacted to our pro-Roma interventions. The research sample ...
Abu Musab al-Suri Goes Online: Conditions for the Success of Jihadist Online Strategies
September 18, 2023
This paper utilizes Social Movement Theory to analyze the online strategies of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Applying Social Movement Theory, this paper argues that the relative online successes of each group can be explained through this theory of radicalization through social engagement. This paper looks at the writings of al-Qaeda strategist, Abu Musab al-Suri, ...
Immigrant, Nationalist And Proud: A Twitter Analysis Of Indian Diaspora Supporters For Brexit And Trump
September 18, 2023
The Brexit referendum to leave the EU and Trump’s success in the US general election in 2016 sparked new waves of discussion on nativism, nationalism, and the far right. Within these analyses, however, very little attention has been devoted towards exploring the transnational ideological circulation of Islamophobia and anti-establishment sentiment, especially amongst diaspora and migrant ...
Online discontent: comparing Western European far-right groups on Facebook
September 18, 2023
Far-right groups increasingly use social media to interact with other groups and reach their followers. Social media also enable ‘ordinary’ people to participate in online discussions and shape political discourse. This study compares the networks and discourses of Facebook pages of Western European far-right parties, movements and communities. Network analyses of pages indicate that the ...
Down the (White) Rabbit Hole: The Extreme Right and Online Recommender Systems
September 18, 2023
In addition to hosting user-generated video content, YouTube provides recommendation services, where sets of related and recommended videos are presented to users, based on factors such as co-visitation count and prior viewing history. This article is specifically concerned with extreme right (ER) video content, portions of which contravene hate laws and are thus illegal in ...
NYPD vs. Revolution Muslim: Te Inside Story of the Defeat of a Local Radicalization Hub
September 18, 2023
Between 2006 and 2012, two men working on opposite sides of the struggle between global jihadis and the United States faced of in New York City. One was the founder of Revolution Muslim, a group which proselytized—online and on New York streets—on behalf of al-Qa`ida. The other led eforts to track the terrorist threat facing ...