Mis/Dis and Mal-Information
August 9, 2024
VOX-Pol Blog Post. ...
The Terror Times: The Depth and Breadth of the Islamic State Alternative News Outlet Ecosystem Online
September 18, 2023
This report highlights the networks, supporters, and the platforms of Islamic State disinformation disseminators, focusing on popular social media platforms as well as encrypted messaging applications. These disinformation networks are creating self-branded media outlets with followers in the tens of thousands, and often with innocuous names like “Global Happenings,” “DRIL” and “Media Center,” to evade ...
Deadly Disinformation: Viral Conspiracy Theories as a Radicalization Mechanism
September 18, 2023
Viral online disinformation is misleading content that is generated to manipulate public opinion and to circulate rapidly in the digital space. Although viral disinformation has become an instrument for radicalization, the specific psychological mechanisms by which disinformation can be weaponized––wielded as mobilizing and radicalizing political tools––are not yet well-understood. In this paper, we establish the ...
Digitalization and Political Extremism
September 18, 2023
Information and communication technologies shape, direct, and deter political behaviour and institutions as the increase in internet usage regulate our daily lives. The advance of internet and digital media also shape political involvement, partisanship, and ideology. Internet, as the new media, is an important information source that shapes political behaviour along with other effects on ...
‘Fogging’ and ‘Flooding’: Countering Extremist Mis/Disinformation After Terror Attacks
September 18, 2023
This report explores how and why mis/disinformation develops in the wake of terror attacks and the ways it is used by extremist groups to attempt to shape public understanding and political responses. These uses include extremist sympathisers engaging in information manipulation and obfuscation as part of their attempts to explain or justify the violence, as ...
US Extremism on Telegram: Fueling Disinformation, Conspiracy Theories, and Accelerationism
September 18, 2023
Several alternative social media platforms have emerged in response to perceptions that mainstream platforms are censoring traditional conservative ideologies. However, many of these alternative social media platforms have evolved to be outlets for hate speech and violent extremism. This study examines hate-based channels on Telegram from a US perspective. While Telegram has often been studied ...
Fake news: the effects of social media disinformation on domestic terrorism
September 18, 2023
This study tests whether social media disinformation contributes to domestic terrorism within countries. I theorize that disinformation disseminated by political actors online through social media heightens political polarization within countries and that this, in turn, produces an environment where domestic terrorism is more likely to occur. I test this theory using data from more than ...