Blog

Studying Online Extremism: Ethics, Methods and Personal Safety The study of online violent right-wing extremism is an emerging and growing field in academia. However, it can also expose researchers to unique methodological challenges and risks of harm. This five-day workshop is co-organized by C-REX and VOX-Pol and aims to provide PhD students with the foundation skills for studying online ...

By Erin Stoner Trump’s election victory was met with a barrage of online discourse; his supporters celebrated his second electoral win and his opponents solemnly braced themselves for what the next four years may bring. In mere hours after his victory, out of the online woodwork emerged right-wing political commentators, high on success. Of note, ...

By Bo Min Keum Incel communities raise concerns about their misogyny and its potential to take radical forms and inspire extremist violence. However, they also exhibit considerable self-loathing and suicidal thoughts, often discussing methods to end one’s life and their term ‘rope’ serving as a common reference to suicide. I was curious to understand the ...

By Heron Lopes On March 6th, the EU DisinfoLab will host a webinar discussing the findings of “Melodies of Malice”, one of the papers featured in this blog post. For more details and registration, visit: EU DisinfoLab Webinars – Melodies of Malice. Introduction Research on extremism and counter-terrorism has long underscored the role of far-right and extremist music ...

By Kate Scott On December 6, 2024, the intelligence agencies of the Five Eyes alliance—Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States—released a jointly authored report outlining the increasing concern of violent extremism among youth. The report sheds light on how extremist content online is being used to recruit, groom, and mobilize ...

Welcome to Volume 12, Issue 1 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. FEATURED PUBLICATION VOX-Pol Member, Dr Ashton Kingdon, has authored a new book titled ‘The World White Web: Uncovering the Hidden Meanings of Online Far-Right Propaganda‘, published as part of the Palgrave Hate Studies book series.  The book draws on extensive empirical research and uses an interdisciplinary perspective. ...

By Darja Wischerath This blog post is a condensed version of a recently published article in New Media + Society. To read the full article click here. The mainstreaming of conspiracy theories has coincided with a troubling rise in real-world violence. From attacks on infrastructure to mass shootings justified by extremist beliefs, conspiracy narratives increasingly ...

By Ryan Scrivens, Thomas W. Wojciechowski, Tiana Gaudette, and Richard Frank There is an ongoing need for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to identify and examine the online posting behaviors of violent extremists prior to their engagement in violence offline, but little is empirically known about their online presence generally or differences in their posting behaviors ...

By Joshua Bowes and Jennifer West Introduction In the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, social media was replete with reactionary misogynistic hate and vitriol. Election experts and disinformation observers pointed to the manosphere as the biggest catalyst of votes for Trump, suggesting that thousands of young men turned out late on election day ...

Welcome to Volume 11, Issue 12 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. PUBLICATIONS VOX-Pol Member Ryan Scrivens and team have two new peer-reviewed articles coming out: Coming soon: a new VOX-Pol joint publication with the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) titled, ‘Right- and left-wing violent extremist abuse of digital technologies in South America, Africa ...