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
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Should misogyny be treated as a form of extremism?
By Stephanie Wescott, Monash University and Steven Roberts, Monash University The UK government has recently announced a review into their counter-terrorism strategy, focussing on responses to “extremist ideologies”. This announcement named misogyny as one of its extremist ideological trends of interest. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: For too long, governments have failed to address the
VOX-Pol Newsletter 11(11) November 2024
Welcome to Volume 11, Issue 11 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter. UPCOMING EVENT VOX-Pol partner project Tech Against Terrorism Europe (TATE) invites you to their final online webinar: Innovations & Insights. This two-hour webinar highlights the insights, lessons, and outputs developed during the TATE project. It will take place on Monday 9 December 2024 at 09:00 GMT | 10:00 CET.
The VOX-Pol Blog turns ten years old
The VOX-Pol Blog has been running for ten years this month and currently contains nearly 500 posts. On it you’ll find book reviews, research article summaries, reflection pieces, cross-posts, and translations. The Blog publishes short (under 1000 words) articles every week at midday on Wednesdays for our audience of researchers, policymakers, law enforcement, social media company
Threats to Democracies: A view from Australia
By Michele Grossman Like many other Western liberal democracies, Australia is currently experiencing a range of challenges to both the stability and sanctity of democratic structures and institutions and the beliefs and values that underwrite them. Threats to democracies are nothing new – they have existed for as long as democracies themselves. However, faced with
Some online conspiracy-spreaders don’t even believe the lies they’re spewing
H. 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
Three steps to talking to a loved one at risk of being radicalised into rioting
Anthony 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
Middle-aged radicalisation: why are so many of Britain’s rioters in their 40s and 50s?
Sara 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
Propaganda in focus: decoding the media strategy of ISIS
This investigation employs the analytical framework established by Braddock and Horgan to conduct a comprehensive content analysis of 79 official English-language propaganda videos disseminated by ISIS, with the objective of quantifying the thematic composition and the evolutionary trajectory of ISIS’s international media operations and propaganda machinery from 2014 to 2017. The findings reveal that a
Emotions & Belonging in Far-Right Social Media Space
By 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