Deplatforming did not decrease Parler users’ activity on fringe social media
April 30, 2025
Online platforms have banned (“deplatformed”) influencers, communities, and even entire websites to reduce content deemed harmful. Deplatformed users often migrate to alternative platforms, which raises concerns about the effectiveness of deplatforming. Here, we study the deplatforming of Parler, a fringe social media platform, between 2021 January 11 and 2021 February 25, in the aftermath of ...
Bibliometric analysis of international publication trends on social media and terrorism by using the Scopus database
April 28, 2025
Social Media and Terrorism are often studied together and have become the focus of many authors in recent years. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate international publication trends on social media and terrorism, using the Scopus database through bibliometric analysis from 2009 to 2022. Data visualization and analysis were conducted using Microsoft Excel and VOSviewer. ...
Systematic Review of Radicalization through Social Media
April 25, 2025
The purpose of this study is to synthesize the literature relating to radicalization on social media, a space with enhanced concerns about nurturing propaganda and conspiracies for violent extremism. Through the systematic review of 82 peer-reviewed studies related to radicalization through social media published in scholarly journals, this paper evidence the growth of robust studies ...
The Taliban Takeover: The Impact on Extremist Organisations and on EU Audiences At Risk of Radicalisation
April 25, 2025
This report reviews propaganda and social media activities of jihadists and right-wing extremist (RWE) groups and assesses the impact of the fall of Kabul on their narratives. ...
Malicious Enclaves: Racism, Hate, and Violence in Social Media Use of Right Wing Extremists in Canada
April 25, 2025
Canadian right-wing extremism is now recognized as a serious problem and their use of social media to circulate hate, violence, and racism is a growing concern. However, not until circa 2016 did Canadian academics, police agencies, and intelligence agencies view the threat of right-wing extremism as a national security issue within Canada. My dissertation examines ...
How social media users perceive different forms of online hate speech: A qualitative multi-method study
March 4, 2025
Although 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 ...
Policy vs reality: comparing the policies of social media sites and users’ experiences, in the context of exposure to extremist content
March 3, 2025
Social 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 Not-So-Silent “Majority”: An Automated Content Analysis of Anti-Government Online Communities
February 21, 2025
The 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 ...