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This paper combines corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis methodologies in order to investigate the discourses and cyber activism of the British right-wing nationalist party, Britain First. A study of a corpus of texts produced by elite members of the group reveals a racist, xenophobic stance which constructs Islam and Muslims as the radical, dangerous ‘Other’. This creates a discourse of fear that threatens the way of life of the indigenous in-group of the British people. An investigation of the cyber activity of the group demonstrates that Britain First is able to achieve a significant amount of following on social media by publishing populist material that veils their true nature or ideological stance.

Freedom of Speech, the War on Terror, and What’s YouTube Got to Do with It: American Censorship during Times of Military Conflict

From Tweeter to Terrorist: Combatting Online Propaganda When Jihad Goes Viral

Four of the world’s largest Internet companies pledged to monitor, combat, and prevent terrorists from using their social media platforms to conduct operations in May 2016. One month later, Twitter, Facebook, and Google were sued for deaths caused by the Islamic State in 2015, and their alleged allowance and facilitation of terrorist communication. A growing demand for responsible and accountable online governance calls into question the global norms of cybersecurity and jurisdiction, and the very definition of terrorism. This paper explores the legislative precedent for countering terrorist communications, including the evolution of the First Amendment, communications and information law, and limitations governed by public opinion. Using legal trajectories to analyze aspects of monitoring and censorship in both past and current counterterrorism strategies, evidence of the future cyber landscape becomes clear. Cyber norms will imminently and inevitably depend on public-private partnerships, with liability split between the government and the private companies that control the majority of the world’s information flows. It is imperative for actors to identify each sector’s competing and corollary priorities, as well as their legal and normative restrictions, to form partnerships that can survive the unpredictable court of public opinion and provide sustainable counterterrorism solutions.

The jihadi movement paradigm, along with jihadi terrorism, has been transformed over the last decade into a new reality, since it entered our daily lives with the 9/11 attacks. This process of change was due largely to the strengthening of the caliphate movement, carried out by the Islamic State. It is no longer possible to understand jihadi terrorism, violent action and recruitment without look for the roots, new characters, models and new dimensions of a radicalization process that happens in a global society where the Internet functions as a key media channel in everyday communications. The next pages aim to understand an Informational Jihad Age, where the role of networked communication, through social media, is a main feature. Communication through the Internet plays a vector function for diffusion of general favorable content related with the caliphate movement, through multiple forms, including official magazines, propaganda videos and the presence of charismatic preachers online. In addition, it was also included in this research the analysis of unfavorable content, in the form of opinion or news content. Hence, it was conducted a Content Analysis in Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube using Crimson Hexagon software platform, that allowed the quantification and characterization of these contents between January 2012 and April 2017.

O paradigma do movimento jihadista, e com ele o terrorismo jihadista, evoluiu ao longo da última década para novos contornos, desde que entrou no nosso quotidiano com os ataques de 11 de setembro de 2001. Esse processo de mutação deveu-se em grande parte ao fortalecimento do movimento do califado, protagonizado pelo Estado Islâmico. Não é hoje possível perceber o terrorismo jihadista, a ação violenta e o recrutamento de jihadistas, sem compreender as raízes, os novos atores, modelos e dimensões de um processo de radicalização que acontece numa sociedade global, na qual a Internet se tornou um meio de comunicação quotidiano. As próximas páginas procuram compreender melhor essa “Era da Jihad Informacional”, onde a comunicação em rede, via redes sociais, é uma caraterística central. A comunicação através da Internet assume-se como um vetor de difusão generalizada de conteúdo favorável ao movimento do califado, assumindo múltiplas formas, entre as quais revistas oficiais, vídeos de propaganda e a presença de pregadores carismáticos online. Para além dessas formas e vetores de difusão, procurou-se também contemplar na análise o conteúdo desfavorável presente na rede, seja ele noticioso ou de opinião. Para isso foi conduzida uma Análise de Conteúdo no Twitter, Facebook, Instagram e Youtube, através da plataforma de “software” Crimson Hexagon, que permitiu a quantificação e caraterização da presença destes conteúdos entre janeiro de 2012 e abril de 2017.

VOX-Pol Blog post.