Journal Article
Identifying distinct types of internet use that predict the likelihood of planning or committing a terrorist attack: Findings from an analysis of individuals convicted on terrorism(-related) charges in England and Wales
April 24, 2025Previous research has documented that the internet plays an increasingly important role in facilitating involvement in terrorism. However, the level of specificity of this literature is low. Advancing current insights, we examined how three concrete examples of active (i.e., generate/disseminate terrorist propaganda; interact with co-ideologues) and two examples of passive (i.e., learn about terrorist ideologies/actors; ...
PROTOCOL: Effectiveness of Educational Programmes to Prevent and Counter Online Violent Extremist Propaganda in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Scandinavian Language Studies: A Systematic Review
April 24, 2025This protocol outlines a systematic review that aims to understand the effectiveness of educational programmes, delivered both online and offline, designed to prevent and counter the effects of online violent extremist propaganda in multiple languages. The primary objective is to assess the impact of interventions on reducing violent extremist attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. A secondary ...
Spatial dynamics in collective identity: Proximity and homophily in antifascist hyperlink-networks
April 24, 2025Internet Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become increasingly popular for social movements of all kinds. Social movement organizations (SMOs) use them to interact and mobilize also across borders. Previous research has highlighted the opportunities for transnational networking and the resulting reduction in the importance of local dependency for SMOs. One movement that combines local direct action ...
Uncovering Salafi jihadist terror activity through advanced technological tools
March 25, 2025This study investigates the evolving challenges intelligence and law enforcement agencies face in countering Salafi jihadist terrorist activities across digital platforms, focusing on integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and data fusion technologies in open-source intelligence (OSINT) methodologies. Through an analysis of case studies involving ISIS and other non-state actors, the study examines how terrorist organisations adapt ...
Islam, New Media and Young Muslims Radicalization
March 25, 2025The aim of the article is to present the phenomenon of radicalization of young Muslims from both Muslim countries and Western Europe, which takes place using new media. The paper uses the method of critical analysis of sources because it allows the interpretation of facts and relating them to the motives of conduct and the ...
Teenage Terrorists and the Digital Ecosystem of the Islamic State
March 25, 2025The author seeks to highlight just how central this unofficial Islamic State ecosystem is to audiences inspired by the group and how the interplay between this ecosystem and youth requires reframing the challenge rather than doubling down on the same playbooks. This article will first present the connection between these young peoples’ use of social ...
Understanding Online Platform Usage of Extremist Groups via Graph Analytics
March 4, 2025Graph analytics has become instrumental in uncovering insights across various domains, specifically in social networks. It serves as a crucial tool for analyzing the relationship between users in different online platforms. In this research, we apply methods of social network analysis to examine the communication patterns among participants in an online forum recognized for far-right ...
How social media users perceive different forms of online hate speech: A qualitative multi-method study
March 4, 2025Although many social media users have reported encountering hate speech, differences in the perception between different users remain unclear. Using a qualitative multi-method approach, we investigated how personal characteristics, the presentation form, and content-related characteristics influence social media users’ perceptions of hate speech, which we differentiated as first-level (i.e. recognizing hate speech) and second-level perceptions ...
Too civil to care? How online hate speech against different social groups affects bystander intervention
March 4, 2025A large share of online users has already witnessed online hate speech. Because targets tend to interpret such bystanders’ lack of reaction as agreement with the hate speech, bystander intervention in online hate speech is crucial as it can help alleviate negative consequences. Despite evidence regarding online bystander intervention, however, whether bystanders evaluate online hate ...
Far-right conspiracy groups on fringe platforms: A longitudinal analysis of radicalization dynamics on Telegram
March 4, 2025Societal crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, produce societal instability and create a fertile ground for radicalization. Extremists exploit such crises by distributing disinformation to amplify uncertainty and distrust among the public. Based on these developments, this study presents a longitudinal analysis of far-right communication on fringe platforms, demonstrating radicalization dynamics. Public Telegram communication of ...