Blog

By Jonathan Pieslak In late June 2012 the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)—one of the premier hate-group and extremism watchdog organizations in the United States—published a report on racist skinhead subculture, describing the movement as “…among the most dangerous far-right threats facing law enforcement today.” Sadly, the report offered an all-too-accurate description of the potency ...

Welcome to Volume 9, Issue 3 of the VOX-Pol Newsletter. TASM CONFERENCE 2022 The Terrorism and Social Media Conference 2022 took place at Swansea University in June. Highlights from the conference can be watched on YouTube, along with the keynotes from Jonathan Hall QC and VOX-Pol’s Professor Maura Conway. Jonathan Hall QC is a barrister in independent practice and presented ...

This article summarizes the recent research report Mainstream media use in far-right online ecosystems, published by Mario Peucker, Thomas J. Fisher and Jacob Davey (ISD). A more in-depth analysis was also published in the journal Media , Culture & Society. By Mario Peucker Mistrust in the media is widespread among Australians, but this view becomes particularly antagonistic ...

By Farzaneh Badii, Anjum Rahman, and Katy Vaughan On 20th September 2022, Leaders of the Christchurch Call Community including Heads of State and Government, the Technology Industry, Civil Society, and Partners of the Call participated in the third Leaders’ Summit in New York. The Summit provided an innovative approach to multilateral dialogue. The round table, ...

This article summarizes a recent paper published in Barbara Perry, Jeff Gruenwald, and Ryan Scrivens’ ‘Right-Wing Extremism in Canada and the United States’ (Palgrave). By Ryan Scrivens, Tiana Gaudette, Maura Conway, and Thomas J. Holt Close attention by journalists and policymakers to the widespread use of the Internet by violent Western (i.e., American, Canadian, Australian, ...

This article summarises one of the recent outputs of a sub-group of GIFCT’s Legal Frameworks Working Group 2022. By Katy Vaughan Most tech companies now have polices aimed at countering terrorist and violent extremist content (TVEC) on their platforms and services. It is also a condition of GIFCT membership that companies must have policies that ...

By the ARC Steering Committee, The Accelerationism Research Consortium (ARC) attended the Terrorism and Social Media (TASM) Conference at Swansea University on June 28 and 29, 2022. We were thrilled to meet face-to-face with colleagues, partner institutions, and stakeholders, and engage with colleagues on timely issues of violent extremism. The conference provided unparalleled opportunities to ...

From September 2021 to July 2022, VOX-Pol published 44 Blog posts covering online extremism and terrorism. The Blog publishes weekly on Wednesdays and takes a break in August, when we share the most-read of the previous year. Click to see the most-read posts of the year from 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018. The top five most-read are: 5. Taliban Victory ...

By Annelies Pauwels and Maarten van Alstein Polarisation comes in different forms. An important distinction can be made between ideological and affective polarisation. Ideological (or issue-based) polarisation refers to the sharpening of opinions, positions or believes on a specific issue within a group of like-minded people. The group moves from moderate towards more extreme views on the ...

By Conor Rees Online extremist activity is not a new phenomenon. Terrorist and Violent Extremist (TVE) use of the Internet has been increasingly well researched since the turn of the millennium. This development of knowledge has led to improved understandings of why TVE’s use the Internet for reasons including recruitment, spreading propaganda, and fundraising (Weiman, ...