Welcome to Volume 11, Issue 8 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter.
VOX-Pol YEAR IN REVIEW
The new Violent Extremism and Terrorism Online in 2023: The Year in Review, compiled for RAN Policy Support was published on the VOX-Pol website in July. The 2023 Year in Review is written by VOX-Pol Members Maura Conway, Ashley A. Mattheis, Sean McCafferty, and Miraji H. Mohamed.
The report describes and discusses developments in the violent extremist and terrorist online scene(s) in the 12-month period from 1 January to 31 December 2023. It accomplishes this by surveying, synopsising, and integrating the findings of relevant articles and reports produced by academics, think-tanks, civil society, and governmental organisations; high quality press reports; and the first-hand online experience and primary research of the authors.
The report can be read in full and for free on our Publications page.
TECH TERROR TAKEDOWN PODCAST
VOX-Pol is pleased to share the Tech Against Terrorism Europe (TATE) project’s latest resource: a limited-series podcast dedicated to exploring the multifaceted challenges posed by online extremism and terrorism. The podcast can be heard on YouTube. VOX-Pol’s former coordinator and current coordinator both feature in the podcasts, along with VOX-Pol Members, in episodes such as:
- Human Touch in a Machine’s World: Automated Content Moderation with Dr Ashley.Mattheis & Prof Stuart.Macdonald
- Inside the Violent Extremist & Terrorist Ecosystem: Platforms, Risks, Responses with Prof Maura Conway
NEW ON VOX-Pol YOUTUBE
The Inaugural VOX-Pol Next Gen Network Conference took place on 17 June 2024 at Swansea University, on the day before the Terrorism and Social Media Conference. Videos of the presentations are now available to watch on this VOX-Pol YouTube playlist. The Next Gen Network is an academic platform dedicated to supporting early career researchers with an interest in investigating online extremism.
VOX-Pol MEMBERS’ PUBLICATIONS & EVENTS
VOX-Pol Member, Dr Katy Vaughan, attended Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT)’s Global Multistakeholder Forum 2024, hosted at the Microsoft Offices in Singapore, on 27 June. Katy spoke on a panel on ‘Managing Risks and Classifications’ alongside representatives from Meta, the UK Home Office, and Tech Against Terrorism.
VOX-Pol Member Stephane Baele, along with co-authors Elahe Naserian and Gabriel Katz, published the article Is AI-Generated Extremism Credible? Experimental Evidence from an Expert Survey in the journal Terrorism and Political Violence, investigating the question of Extremism and AI.
NEW FROM THE VOX-Pol BLOG
Articles from the last month on the VOX-Pol Blog:
- Breaking Ground: The EU’s First Far-Right Designation of ‘The Base’ and Its Impact on Online Content, 2 August 2024, by Anne Craanen
- Terrorism and Social Media (TASM) 2024 Reflections: Effective Cross-Sector Collaboration, 31 July 2024, by Katy Vaughan, Hadley Middleton, and Evan James
- Misogyny, Misandry and (Online Cult) Leader: The Daily Emails of Andrew Tate
24 July 2024, by Elizabeth Pearson - Grievance, Pseudohistory, and AI: A Powerful Recipe for The Generation of Extremist Narratives?, 17 July 2024, by Daniel E. Levenson
- We research online ‘misogynist radicalisation’. Here’s what parents of boys should know, 10 July 2024, by Steven Roberts and Stephanie Wescott
The VOX-Pol Blog takes a break in the month of August, and instead, the highest read Blogs of the previous year will be featured instead. Keep an eye on our Twitter page every Wednesday for the top 5 most read of the year!
