Online Library

Content takedowns have emerged as one of the central pillars in the global fight against disinformation and extremism. Despite their increasing ubiquity as disruptive tools in political processes, their true efficacy remains up for debate. We ‘know’, for example, that takedowns had a strong disruptive effect on Islamic State-supporting networks online, but we do not know whether constraining avenues for expression may ultimately accelerate offline acts of violence. We also know that extreme-right networks have weaponised content takedowns as evidence of victimisation and the steadfast erosion of ‘free speech’, often underpinning calls to (violent) action. There is much to understand about the efficacy of content moderation with regard to accelerationism, democracy and (violent) extremism: this event seeks to address these issues in an open forum for discussion.

Chair: Dr. James Fitzgerald (Dublin City University)

Presentation 1: Moderating Borderline Content whilst Respecting Fundamental Values Dr Katy Vaughan (Swansea University)

Presentation 2: Recommending Instead of Taking Down: YouTube hyper-partisan content promotion amid the 2022 Brazilian general elections Profs. Rose Marie Santini, Débora Salles, & Bruno Mattos (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)

Presentation 3: Wellness and Conspiracy Theories: The promise and peril(s) of content takedowns Dr. Vivian Gerrand (Deakin University) and Dr. James Fitzgerald (Dublin City University)

VOX-Pol is pleased to share the latest online workshop on “Borderline Online Content” which took place in June 2024. The workshop is hosted by Brigitte Naderer, Senior Researcher at the Medical University of Vienna, Heidi Schulze Research Associate at LMU Munich, and Diana Rieger, Professor at LMU Munich. The presenters will speak on topics around borderline, ‘hard to regulate’, content in the following four talks:

Heidi Schulze & Simon Greipl “A Little Less Hate, But a Lot More Harm – Fear Speech as Strategic Borderline Communication”

Hannah Rose: “Hybridised Online Hate and Extremism in the Israel/Gaza Conflict”

Ursula Schmid “Legitimizing hostility through humor: Perceptions and effects of humorous hate speech on social media”

Broderick McDonald “Lawful but Awful: Borderline Content and Human Rights”

VOX-Pol Summer School: ‘Topics in Violence Online Political Extremism’
Dublin: July 3, 2014

Inaugural VOX-Pol Conference:
‘Violent Online Political Extremism: Setting a Research Agenda’
Kings College London: August 28-29, 2014

Inaugural VOX-Pol Conference:
‘Violent Online Political Extremism: Setting a Research Agenda’
Kings College London: August 28-29, 2014

VOX-Pol Guest Lecture Series, Autumn 2023

Name: Jade Hutchinson

Title: The Far-Right Online Ecosystem Outline: This presentation provides a conceptual and empirical overview of how networks of online platforms and devices shape Far-Right extremism and terrorism. Drawing on current PhD research into how online extremist ecosystems operate, issues of ecosystem conceptualisation, data collection, and the challenges associated with online ecosystem research are discussed.