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VOX-Pol Blog post.

The Internet and online spaces have come to play a significant role in discussions over both terrorism and methods to counter it. Recent events have highlighted the role that such online spaces and networks can play in irregular violence. The growth of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria came with a canon of slick social media videos and online propaganda, aimed at encouraging individuals from throughout the world to pledge support to Da’esh, participate in the state-building process in as-Sham, or to “stay in place” and commit attacks in their home countries.

This paper examines the need and possibility for developing online resilience-based approaches in response to COVID-19 vaccine conspiracies, often linked to the far right. Examining three datasets collected between December 2020 and April 2021, this paper details conspiracy narratives that have developed around COVID-19 vaccines, with specific focus on understanding the deployment of the idea of a planned pandemic or so-called ‘#plandemic’. This is then used to consider where existing resilience-based approaches to countering off-line polarisation and extremism might posit an appropriate online response. The article identifies four key #plandemic framings of COVID-19 vaccines — as control, as reset, as unnecessary and as unsafe — and analyses how these themes are constructed, to find that they are often created through hostile and confrontational interaction with other users. Based on these findings, the conclusion suggests companies shift their focus away from ‘negative’ approaches to content moderation (e.g., content removal) and towards resilience-building responses that cultivate flexible individual identities, build community support networks, and/or engage users with national and supranational democratic structures, as a more effective response to the sharing of online conspiracies.

Recognizing that militant, non-state groups utilize social media and online platforms to reach members, sympathizers, and potential recruits, state agencies and social media corporations now increasingly regulate access to accounts affiliated with such groups. Scholars examining deplatforming efforts have, to date, focused on the extent of audience loss after account restrictions and the identification of strategies for regrouping online followers on the same or different platforms over time. Left unexplored is if and how militant non-state groups adapt their official messaging strategies in response to platform restrictions despite continuing online access to them. To begin to fill that gap, this study compares ISIS’s 550 images displayed in the group’s official newsletter al-Naba 6 months before and after Europol’s November 2019 take-down of terrorist affiliated accounts, groups, channels, and bots on Telegram. It conducts a content analysis of images related to militaries and their outcomes, non-military activities and their outcomes, and presentational forms. The findings demonstrate that ISIS visually emphasizes its standard priming approach but shifts its agenda-setting strategy. While retaining some of its standard visual framing practices, the group also alters frames, particularly those related to images showing opposing militaries and military outcome.

Policymakers, researchers, and responders alike focus on the evolution of terrorist and other groups associated with political violence. This study offers a comparative analysis of the images of ISIS and U.S. far-right groups’ use of flag images, as such emblems contribute to community building, heighten emotional responses, and have political import. It adds to previous work by comparing groups across the ideological spectrum, by recognizing differences in media operations present as groups evolve, and by focusing on visual messaging that is vital for influence in the online environment. Using chi-square analyses, it compares almost 5000 images that include flags from ISIS publications between 2014 and 2020 with 600 images focused on the far-right events at the Unite the Right Rally and the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Specifically, it looks at the compositional elements of the flags appearing in the images, the immediate media context within the photographic frame, and the broader regulatory, political, religious, and economic situational contexts. The findings indicate that while the far right and ISIS both heavily rely on flags in their visual images, eight key differences emerge as related to the groups, their contexts, and the evolution of the media systems.

Ce rapport passe en revue la littérature existante sur la sécurité des chercheurs et le traumatisme vicariant afin de répertorier les dangers auxquels les chercheurs sont confrontés lorsqu’ils étudient des domaines de recherche sensibles. Il examine également les pratiques et stratégies prometteuses visant à atténuer ces risques. Il commence par une discussion sur les circonstances dans lesquelles la sécurité des chercheurs et le traumatisme vicariant peuvent survenir, en mettant l’accent sur les menaces physiques et le bien-être mental. Cela comprend une bref examen de la littérature sur la sécurité des chercheurs et le traumatisme vicariant dans divers divers domaines. S’appuyant sur la littérature existante, il propose ensuite une liste non exhaustive de pratiques, de stratégies et de recommandations à adopter par les institutions et les départements, les superviseurs et individus pour traiter ces questions. Principales conclusions • Les comités d’éthique de la recherche et les établissements d’enseignement supérieur accordent souvent la priorité à la protection des participants pendant la recherche, sans tenir compte ou presque de la protection des chercheurs. • La sécurité des chercheurs et l’impact du traumatisme vicariant sur les universitaires menant des recherches de nature (ou sur des sujets) sensibles ne sont pas largement abordés ; • Les étudiants diplômés, les chercheurs en début de carrière et/ou les chercheurs issus de communautés marginalisées qui étudient des sujets sensibles sont plus susceptibles d’être la cible de harcèlement en ligne et de subir un traumatisme par procuration en raison de leur travail. • Les étudiants diplômés et les chercheurs en début de carrière (ECR) qui étudient des sujets sensibles ont besoin d’un soutien accru de la part de leurs superviseurs, et Les superviseurs ont besoin d’un soutien accru de la part de leurs institutions ou associations professionnelles.