Twitter (X)
Studying Jihadists on Social Media: A Critique of Data Collection Methodologies
September 18, 2023In this article, we propose a general model of data collection from social media, in the context of terrorism research, focusing on recent studies of jihadists. By analyzing Twitter data collection methods in the existing research, we show that the methods used are prone to sampling biases, and that the sampled datasets are not sufficiently ...
Fanning the Flames of Hate: Social Media and Hate Crime
September 18, 2023This paper investigates the link between social media and hate crime using hand-collected data from Facebook and Twitter. We study the case of Germany, where the recently emerged right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has developed a major social media presence. Using a difference-in-differences design, we show that right-wing anti-refugee sentiment on Facebook predicts violent ...
Antisemetic content on Twitter
September 18, 2023This report presents an analysis of the production and propagation of online antagonistic content related to Jews posted on Twitter between October 2015 and October 2016 in the UK. ...
From Isolation to Radicalization: Anti-Muslim Hostility and Support for ISIS in the West
September 18, 2023What explains online radicalization and support for ISIS in the West? Over the past few years, thousands of individuals have radicalized by consuming extremist content online, many of whom eventually traveled overseas to join the Islamic State. This study examines whether anti-Muslim hostility might drive pro-ISIS radicalization in Europe. Using new geo-referenced data on the ...
‘Like Sheep Among Wolves’: Characterizing Hateful Users on Twitter
September 18, 2023Hateful speech in Online Social Networks (OSNs) is a key challenge for companies and governments, as it impacts users and advertisers, and as several countries have strict legislation against the practice. This has motivated work on detecting and characterizing the phenomenon in tweets, social media posts and comments. However, these approaches face several shortcomings due ...
Digital Decay? Tracing Change Over Time Among English-Language Islamic State Sympathizers on Twitter
September 18, 2023Until 2016, Twitter was the online platform of choice for English-language Islamic State (IS) sympathizers. As a result of Twitter’s counter-extremism policies – including content removal – there has been a decline in activity by IS supporters. This outcome may suggest the company’s efforts have been effective, but a deeper analysis reveals a complex, nonlinear ...
“@ me if you need shoutout”: Exploring Women’s Roles in Islamic State Twitter Networks
September 18, 2023This article investigates the social media content of women who are affiliated with the Islamic State. Throughout one year, ninety-three Twitter accounts were tracked to explore the patterns of engagement by pro–Islamic State women online and examine how these patterns illuminate the roles that pro–Islamic State women occupy on social media networks. The study reveals ...
Influence And Interference From Russian Twitter Accounts Following UK Terrorist Attacks
September 18, 2023The level of influence and interference by Russian-linked social media trying to engineer social division in the UK, including through Russian Twitter accounts, is considerably more extensive than has been reported to date. ...
The Response of, and on, Twitter to the Release of Dabiq Issue 15
September 18, 2023The so-called Islamic State (IS) has a sophisticated media strategy (Winter 2017), an important part of which has been its English-language online magazine Dabiq. Launched in July 2014, a total of fifteen issues of Dabiq in the two years that followed. These issues were disseminated in a variety of ways, including archive sites (Bodo and ...
Understanding Psycho-Sociological Vulnerability of ISIS Patronizers in Twitter
September 18, 2023The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a Salafi jihadist militant group that has made extensive use of online social media platforms to promulgate its ideologies and evoke many individuals to support the organization. The psycho- sociological background of an individual plays a crucial role in determining his/her vulnerability of being lured into ...