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VOX-Pol Newsletter 8(1) March 2021
March 9, 2021Welcome to Volume 8 Issue 1 of the VOX-Pol Newsletter. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in the content of our newsletter, or any events or research carried out by VOX-Pol, please forward this to them and encourage them to subscribe via our website. Follow us on Twitter @VOX_Pol for live updates ...
Blog
‘Terrorism Informatics’ Part I: A Framework for Researchers
March 3, 2021This series of four blog posts builds on discussions had during the ‘Inside the Black Box of “Terrorism Informatics”: A Cost-benefit Analysis of Using Computational Techniques in Violent Online Political Extremism Research’ workshop organised by VOX-Pol in 2018. [Ed.] By Matti Pohjonen One of the most pressing challenges in research on violent online extremism is ...
Blog
Moderating Terrorist and Extremist Content
February 24, 2021Want to submit a blog post? Click here. By Joan Barata According to the latest figures provided by Facebook, 99,6% of the content actioned on grounds of terrorism (mostly related to the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and their affiliates) was found and flagged before any user reported it. This being said, it is also worth noting ...
Blog
The Tech Industry and the Regulation of Online Terrorist Content: What Do Law Enforcement Think?
February 17, 2021Want to submit a blog post? Click here. By Stuart Macdonald and Andrew Staniforth The importance of tackling online terrorist propaganda is well-accepted, as is the important role of social media companies in responding to this challenge. In this short piece, we report some initial findings from a wider project on cooperation between social media ...
Blog
What Is the Link Between Computer Gaming and Hate-based Ideologies?
February 10, 2021Want to submit a blog post? Click here. By Helen Young and Geoff Boucher On 26 February this year, members of the extreme-Right group Atomwaffen Division in the United States were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism. Alongside plans for the intimidation of journalists, including death threats, the group aimed to ...
Blog
Tackling Online Radicalization at Its Offline Roots
February 3, 2021Want to submit a blog post? Click here. By William Baldét You would be forgiven for thinking that the advent of Covid-19 and the accompanying lockdowns have led to the mass radicalization of our youth, consigned to cyberspace, and exposed to vast swathes of online terrorist propaganda. It’s true that cases of ‘self-radicalization’ in the ...
Blog
Examining the Developmental Pathways of Online Posting Behavior in Violent Right-Wing Extremist Forums
January 27, 2021This article summarizes a recent study published in Terrorism and Political Violence. By Ryan Scrivens, Thomas W. Wojciechowski, and Richard Frank Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers have paid close attention to the presence of terrorists and extremists online in recent years, with a particular emphasis on digital communities that facilitate extreme right-wing ideologies. This is largely ...
News
VOX-Pol in the News
January 25, 2021VOX-Pol expertise has been featured in the news since the storming of the United States Capitol on 6 January 2021. The events, which led to five deaths, sparked a discussion about online deplatforming. VOX-Pol Fellows, such as JM Berger, Bharath Ganesh, Sam Jackson and Maura Conway have been quoted in The New York Times, VOX, ...
Blog
Big Tech’s Rejection of Parler Shuts down a Site Favored by Trump Supporters – and Used by Participants in the US Capitol Insurrection
January 20, 2021By Alex Newhouse Early in the morning of Jan. 11, the social media platform Parler went offline after Amazon withdrew the platform’s web hosting services. Parler sued Amazon in response. Amazon’s move followed Google and Apple’s banning the Parler app from their app stores. The tech companies cited the platform’s inability or unwillingness to block calls for and threats of ...
Blog
QAnon and the Storm of the U.S. Capitol: The Offline Effect of Online Conspiracy Theories
January 13, 2021By Marc-André Argentino What is the cost of propaganda, misinformation and conspiracy theories? Democracy and public safety, to name just two things. The United States has received a stark lesson on how online propaganda and misinformation have an offline impact. For weeks, Donald Trump has falsely claimed the November presidential election was rigged and that’s ...