Radical Right-Wing Extremism in Russian Cyberspace: Proliferation under Conditions of Ban
September 18, 2023
The Internet is harnessed as an ideal means for organization and promotion of protest ideology, which does not require special institutional facilities for maintenance and development. Radical right-wing extremism is reckoned to be among the public sentiments employing this global network. Consequently, Russia is experiencing the tightening of Internet controls. The objective of our study ...
Tracking Online Hate Speech and Identifying Online ‘Raids’ in the UK
September 18, 2023
The Online Civil Courage Initiative’s core partner, ISD, has been tracking both positive and negative responses to terror attacks in the UK this year, to understand how to improve counterspeech in the UK. This report contains advice for NGOs working towards challenging hate speech and extremism online with recommendations/suggestions for how they can respond speedily ...
Countering Terrorist Narratives
September 18, 2023
This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee, provides an overview of current approaches to countering terrorist narratives. The first and second sections outline the different responses developed at the global and European Union levels. The third section presents an analysis ...
A Multimodal Mixed Methods Approach for Examining Recontextualisation Patterns of Violent Extremist Images in Online Media
September 18, 2023
This paper uses a multimodal mixed methods approach for exploring general recontextualisation patterns of violent extremist images in online media. Specifically, the paper reports on the preliminary findings of a preliminary study which investigates various patterns in the reuse of images which appear in ISIS’s official propaganda magazines Dabiq and Rumiyah by others across various ...
Winning the Cyberwar Against ISIS
September 18, 2023
Despite the efforts of the United States and its allies to fight the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), the group remains a formidable danger. It holds territory in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, and Syria and directs cells in Bangladesh, Egypt, France, the North Caucasus, and Yemen. ISIS operatives have conducted terrorist attacks in Europe—including ...
Paradigmatic Shifts in Jihadism in Cyberspace: The Emerging Role of Unaffiliated Sympathizers in Islamic State’s Social Media Strategy
September 18, 2023
This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the concept of jihadism as it presently exists in cyberspace. From its roots during the Chechen conflict to the current use of social media by the Islamic State (IS), this paper identifies and examines three highly significant paradigm shifts: (1) the emergence of rudimentary Web 2.0 ...
Countering Far-Right Recruitment Online: CAPE’s Practitioner Experience
September 18, 2023
Community Action for Preventing Extremism (CAPE) is Australia’s only not-for-profit counter-extremism project focused specifically on preventing a growth in right-wing extremism. By disseminating counter-narratives to extremism through the exitwhitepower.com website and directly engaging with individuals at-risk via social media, CAPE seeks to sow a seed of doubt that will reduce individual’s vulnerability to involvement in ...
Countering Violent Extremism via Desecuritisation on Twitter
September 18, 2023
The case of a civil society actor on Twitter entering a securitized discourse on terrorism illustrates the transformative theoretical potential that emerges from new forms of communication online. Through a qualitative analysis of tweets from the Average Mohamed profile, the potential to change a negative narrative of violent extremism operating within a securitised discourse of ...
Empowering ISIS Opponents on Twitter
September 18, 2023
This Perspective presents options for operationalizing recent RAND Corporation findings about ISIS opponents and supporters on Twitter. This paper formulates a countermessaging approach for two main communication pathways. First, we articulate an approach for working with influential Twitter users in the Arab world to promote bottom-up and authentic counter-ISIS messaging. Second, we highlight ways that ...
Research Perspectives on Online Radicalisation: A Literature Review 2006–2016
September 18, 2023
This literature review seeks to recalibrate our understanding of online radicalisation, how it is conceptualised within the literature and the extent to which the policy debate has advanced in response to technological and legal developments. Among the findings are the following: • In recent years, the overwhelming focus of this avenue of research has been on the global ...