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Some online conspiracy-spreaders don’t even believe the lies they’re spewing
October 16, 2024H. Colleen Sinclair, Louisiana State University There has been a lot of research on the types of people who believe conspiracy theories, and their reasons for doing so. But there’s a wrinkle: My colleagues and I have found that there are a number of people sharing conspiracies online who don’t believe their own content. They ...
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Nazis at the salad bar: The National Workers’ Alliance and mixed, unclear, and unstable ideology
October 9, 2024By Gerard Gill Recent developments in violent extremism have included an uptick in the salience of mixed, unclear, and unstable (MUU) or ‘salad bar’ ideologies. These are worldviews where numerous, sometimes disparate perspectives combine in a dynamic and evolving manner, resulting in a belief system that is hard to comprehensively define. A growth in MUU ...
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VOX-Pol Newsletter 11(10) October 2024
October 8, 2024Welcome to Volume 11, Issue 10 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. UPCOMING EVENT VOX-Pol Coordinator Stuart Macdonald is co-organising and speaking at the webinar, Addressing Terrorism and Social Media in West Africa, taking place this Thursday 10 October. VOX-Pol Member Alta Grobbelaar is also speaking at the event, and it’s chaired by Christogonus Ibe, of the group, African Youths Initiative ...
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Bangladesh’s political transition viewed as opportunity by Islamic State and al-Qaeda
October 2, 2024By Sean McCafferty and Marjuka Binte Afzal Bangladesh’s recent political turmoil has sparked interest from Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda (AQ), both seeing the regime change as a strategic opportunity. With the government in transition, security reforms needed, and jihadist propaganda targeting Bangladesh, there is a risk of increased jihadist activity during the country’s democratic ...
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Three steps to talking to a loved one at risk of being radicalised into rioting
September 25, 2024Anthony English, The Open University For some, the shocking scenes of violence which have erupted across dozens of locations in England and Northern Ireland will evoke an all-too-real concern – could someone close to me get involved in the violence? Alongside those directly affected by the act of rioting itself, there are another set of ...
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Middle-aged radicalisation: why are so many of Britain’s rioters in their 40s and 50s?
September 18, 2024Sara H Wilford, De Montfort University Look closely at the pictures of the violent unrest that has spread across England and Northern Ireland and you will notice something that is not being spoken about. The rioters seen fighting, attacking police and setting fire to buildings are often middle aged – people in their 40s, 50s ...
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Emotions & Belonging in Far-Right Social Media Space
September 11, 2024By Jonathan Collins This blog offers a condensed version of a recently published article in Social Media + Society. To read the full version, click here. The increased participation within far-right alternative platforms (Alt-Tech) is generating significant attention from scholars interested in the community’s communication patterns and dynamics. Perhaps unsurprising for a movement seeking or ...
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VOX-Pol Newsletter 11(9) September 2024
September 10, 2024Welcome to Volume 11, Issue 9 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. VOX-Pol ON LINKEDIN VOX-Pol is now on LinkedIn. Please like and follow our new page! We are still on X @VOX_Pol with live updates, and check out our YouTube channel for videos of our events and workshops. VOX-Pol UPCOMING EVENT You are invited to an open source intelligence (OSINT) workshop, being held ...
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“Dead society”: Tracing the Online Dimension of a Militant Accelerationist-Inspired Attack in Turkey
September 4, 2024By Arthur Bradley An assailant injured at least five people with a knife in a tea garden in Sehit Rustem Demirbas Park, Eskisehir, northwestern Turkey, on 12 August. Police apprehended the 18-year-old suspect within a few minutes of the violence starting. He was dressed in camouflage trousers and an assault vest, helmet, goggles and skull mask, and also reportedly carried ...
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The VOX-Pol Blog 2023/24: Top 5 Most Read
August 30, 2024The VOX-Pol Blog publishes weekly on a Wednesday, and takes a break in August, when we share the top 5 most read post of the year. This year, VOX-Pol has published a total of thirty-two posts, covering the online far-right, incels, online jihadism, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). We also featured Blogs on extremism legislation and ...