Extremist Content Research Articles

Closing down the Discussion: Is a Classroom a Conducive Space for Religion Related Dialog? A United Kingdom Based Case Study

This article argues through the use of a case study that the current political climate in the United Kingdom is not conducive to religion-related dialog. First, there is a contested notion over whether the classroom is a space for religion-related dialog. Second, classrooms are affected by the national context of the duty placed upon teachers to prevent extremism. This reduces the sense of the classroom as a safe space as it undermines the trust pupils, particularly Muslim pupils, have in open discussion and increases the sense of anxiety felt by teachers that, in opening up discussion, they risk having to report extremist content.

Individual differences in political aggression: The role of social integration, perceived grievances and low self-control

Several models have been suggested for studying (self-reported) aggression. Less frequently, these theories are empirically applied to explain individual differences in political aggression. The present study examines the role of distal, intermediate and proximate mechanisms in a net-sample of 6020 young adults. Using log-linear structural equation modelling, the independent effects of cumulative social integration, perceived personal and group injustices and low self-control are assessed. It is assumed that these factors contribute to the ‘crystallization of discontent’ by fostering religious authoritarianism, political powerlessness, support for extremist beliefs and online exposure to extremist content. Support for extremist content and online exposure to extremist content are strong predictors, and function as different routes towards political aggression. The results support an integrated approach towards the study of political aggression. Implications for future studies are discussed.

A Storm on the Horizon? “Twister” and the Implications of the Blockchain and Peer-to-Peer Social Networks for Online Violent Extremism

“Twister,” developed by Miguel Freitas, is a social network platform centered around micro-blogging, much like Twitter. However, rather than relying on centralized servers owned and maintained by a single firm, Twister users operate a blockchain combined with distributed hash table (DHT)–like and BitTorrent-like protocols to both make posts and send private messages, and also to receive entries from other users. Twister’s raison d’etre is that it offers a social networking platform that cannot be censored and cannot itself censor. The software does not record the Internet Protocol addresses users use to access the service, nor does it notify other users of an account’s online/offline status. Growing adoption of blockchain services means that it is possible that the concept of decentralized social networks could become a norm. It is suggested in this article that blockchain-based peer-to-peer social networks present challenges to the current counterextremist practices for content removal and censorship. While there are methods to disrupt usage of blockchain-based peer-to-peer services, these approaches may have the net harm of curtailing bona fide use of legal and novel technologies. Given this opportunity cost, non-transitory online violent extremist content may need to be tolerated.

Brand safety: the effects of controversial video content on pre-roll advertising

Newspapers have reported instances of famous brands' ads running as pre-rolls to terrorist videos on YouTube. Subsequent brand safety fears have led to advertisers pulling their YouTube ads. This study, a lab experiment, tested the effects of program quality and content—particularly violent, sexual or extremist content—on pre-roll ads. The experiment used measures from studies showing significant broadcast TV content effects on mid-roll advertising, using more extreme cable TV content to increase the chances of finding significant effects on pre-roll ads. Overall, the effects were minimal, with no effects on brand attitudes, ad liking, or three ad memory components—encoding, storage, and retrieval. In contrast to research showing program context effects on mid-roll advertising, context effects (e.g., on brand safety) do not seem an issue for pre-roll ads. A brand's reputation might suffer negative effects from pre-roll advertising in other ways, however. A limitation is that this study did not re-test the effects of controversial content on mid-roll advertising.

From Isolation to Radicalization: Anti-Muslim Hostility and Support for ISIS in the West

What explains online radicalization and support for ISIS in the West? Over the past few years, thousands of individuals have radicalized by consuming extremist content online, many of whom eventually traveled overseas to join the Islamic State. This study examines whether anti-Muslim hostility might drive pro-ISIS radicalization in Western Europe. Using new geo-referenced data on the online behavior of thousands of Islamic State sympathizers in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium, I study whether the intensity of anti-Muslim hostility at the local level is linked to pro-ISIS radicalization on Twitter. The results show that local-level measures of anti-Muslim animosity correlate significantly and substantively with indicators of online radicalization, including posting tweets sympathizing with ISIS, describing life in ISIS-controlled territories, and discussing foreign fighters. High-frequency data surrounding events that stir support for ISIS—terrorist attacks, propaganda releases, and anti-Muslim protests—show the same pattern.

Social Media and (Counter) Terrorist Finance: A Fund-Raising and Disruption Tool

The proliferation of social media has created a terrorist finance vulnerability due to the ease with which propaganda can be spread, promoting fund-raising for a certain cause. Social media companies recognize the importance of preventing violent extremist and terrorist content, but less attention is paid to their fund-raising role. As well as presenting a threat, the movement of terrorist fund-raising activities online creates a disruption opportunity. This article argues that social media companies need to display greater awareness of their vulnerability to supporting terrorist financing and greater collaboration with law enforcement and financial institutions to strengthen the integrity of the system against abuse.

Counter-messages as Prevention or Promotion of Extremism?! The Potential Role of YouTube

In order to serve as an antidote to extremist messages, counter-messages (CM) are placed in the same online environment as extremist content. Often, they are even tagged with similar keywords. Given that automated algorithms may define putative relationships between videos based on mutual topics, CM can appear directly linked to extremist content. This poses severe challenges for prevention programs using CM. This study investigates the extent to which algorithms influence the interrelatedness of counter and extremist messages. By means of two exemplary information network analyses based on YouTube videos of two CM campaigns, we demonstrate that CM are closely-or even directly-connected to extremist content. The results hint at the problematic role of algorithms for prevention campaigns.

Protecting the brand in the era of fake news: Why brands need advertisement verification tools

The digital display advertising ecosystem – advertisers, agencies, publishers, adtech vendors – experienced a trust crisis that peaked in March 2017 as fake news, misinformation, conspiracy theories and extremist content proliferated in the wake of the US presidential election cycle of 2016. Brand safety has become a buzzword of choice as advertisers reevaluate how they are buying digital display advertising, the controls they have in place to ensure their advertising appears alongside content that is in keeping with their brands, and how to balance reach with control. This paper examines how: (1) brands have been forced to adapt to a changing landscape; (2) to evaluate the adtech options available to brands for monitoring and blocking the placement of advertisements; (3) Google, Facebook and adtech vendors have responded to advertiser calls for more controls and (4) brand managers can implement a brand safety plan of their own.

Contagion dynamics of extremist propaganda in social networks

Recent terrorist attacks carried out on behalf of ISIS on American and European soil by lone wolf attackers or sleeper cells remind us of the importance of understanding the dynamics of radicalization mediated by social media communication channels. In this paper, we shed light on the social media activity of a group of twenty-five thousand users whose association with ISIS online radical propaganda has been manually verified. By using a computational tool known as dynamic activity-connectivity maps, based on network and temporal activity patterns, we investigate the dynamics of social influence within ISIS supporters. We finally quantify the effectiveness of ISIS propaganda by determining the adoption of extremist content in the general population and draw a parallel between radical propaganda and epidemics spreading, highlighting that information broadcasters and influential ISIS supporters generate highly-infectious cascades of information contagion. Our findings will help generate effective countermeasures to combat the group and other forms of online extremism.

Hate Beneath the Counter Speech? A Qualitative Content Analysis of User Comments on YouTube Related to Counter Speech Videos

The odds in stumbling over extremist material in the internet are high. Counter speech videos, such as those of the German campaign Begriffswelten Islam (Concepts of Islam; Bundeszentrale fur politische Bildung, 2015a) published on YouTube, offer alternative perspectives and democratic ideas to counteract extremist content. YouTube users may discuss these videos in the comment sections below the video. Yet, it remains open which topics these users bring up in their comments. Moreover, it is unknown how far user comments in this context may promote hate speech—the very opposite of what counter speeches intent to evoke. By applying a qualitative content analysis on a randomly selected sample of user comments, which appeared beneath the counter speech videos of Concepts of Islam , we found that comments dominated, which dealt with devaluating prejudices and stereotypes towards Muslims and/or Islam. However, we also discovered that users in a large scale discussed the content of the videos. Moreover, we identified user comments, which hint at hateful speech either in comments themselves or the discourse the comments are embedded in. Based on these results, we discuss implications for researchers, practitioners and security agencies.

Contagion Dynamics of Extremist Propaganda in Social Networks

Recent terrorist attacks carried out on behalf of ISIS on American and European soil by lone wolf attackers or sleeper cells remind us of the importance of understanding the dynamics of radicalization mediated by social media communication channels. In this paper, we shed light on the social media activity of a group of twenty-five thousand users whose association with ISIS online radical propaganda has been manually verified. By using a computational tool known as dynamic activity-connectivity maps, based on network and temporal activity patterns, we investigate the dynamics of social influence within ISIS supporters. We finally quantify the effectiveness of ISIS propaganda by determining the adoption of extremist content in the general population and draw a parallel between radical propaganda and epidemics spreading, highlighting that information broadcasters and influential ISIS supporters generate highly-infectious cascades of information contagion. Our findings will help generate effective countermeasures to combat the group and other forms of online extremism.

Brothers, Believers, Brave Mujahideen: Focusing Attention on the Audience of Violent Jihadist Preachers

ABSTRACTThe exponential growth in the use of the Internet and social media by terrorist actors and violent extremists has generated research interest into terrorism and the Internet. Much of this research is focused on the kinds of messages being spread via the various media platforms that host violent extremist content. This research has yielded significant insights into how organizations such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State craft their messages, the mediums they use to disseminate their messages, and the ways in which they reach their audiences. Yet we are still no closer to understanding why certain messaging appeals to certain people in certain ways and not to others. Within the literature on terrorism and the Internet, the audience—those individuals who receive messages, make meaning from them and then decide whether to act on them—is conspicuously missing. As a result, research into terrorism and the Internet can only hypothesize about the nature and extent of influence that terrorist messages wield. It is often based on an assumption that the violent extremist narrative works like a magic bullet to radicalize audiences already vulnerable and predisposed to becoming violent. Utilizing media theory approaches to studying the audience as an active agent in meaning-making, this article proposes a research framework for developing the current focus on terrorism and the Internet.

From Isolation to Radicalization: Anti-Muslim Hostility and Support for ISIS in the West

What explains online radicalization and support for ISIS in Europe? In the past few years, thousands in the West have become radicalized by consuming extremist content online, and many have left for Syria to join the Islamic State. This study examines whether anti-Muslim hostility in Europe might drive pro-ISIS radicalization. From December 2015 to May 2016, I collected real-time and historical data on the activity of thousands of ISIS activists and the full social network of their followers on Twitter, a central platform for the organization’s recruitment efforts. I captured and analyzed the online activity and textual content produced by ISIS supporters before their accounts were deleted from the Internet. Using data on the geographic location of Twitter users, I matched online radicalization indicators with offline data on vote share for far-right, anti-Muslim political parties to test whether the intensity of anti-Muslim hostility at the local (neighborhood/municipality) level predicts support for ISIS on Twitter. Results show that local-level support for far-right parties is a significant and substantively meaningful predictor of online radicalization, including posting tweets sympathizing with ISIS, describing life in ISIS-controlled territories, discussing foreign fighters, and expressing anti-West sentiment. An analysis of high-frequency data surrounding events that stir anti-Muslim hostility, such as terrorist attacks and anti-Muslim protests in Europe, shows the same pattern.

Determining the Role of the Internet in Violent Extremism and Terrorism: Six Suggestions for Progressing Research

ABSTRACTSome scholars and others are skeptical of a significant role for the Internet in processes of violent radicalization. There is increasing concern on the part of other scholars, and increasingly also policymakers and publics, that easy availability of violent extremist content online may have violent radicalizing effects. This article identifies a number of core questions regarding the interaction of violent extremism and terrorism and the Internet, particularly social media, that have yet to be adequately addressed and supplies a series of six follow-up suggestions, flowing from these questions, for progressing research in this area. These suggestions relate to (1) widening the range of types of violent online extremism being studied beyond violent jihadis; (2) engaging in more comparative research, not just across ideologies, but also groups, countries, languages, and social media platforms; (3) deepening our analyses to include interviewing and virtual ethnographic approaches; (4) up-scaling or improving our capacity to undertake “big data” collection and analysis; (5) outreaching beyond terrorism studies to become acquainted with, for example, the Internet Studies literature and engaging in interdisciplinary research with, for example, computer scientists; and (6) paying more attention to gender as a factor in violent online extremism.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INVOLVEMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN EXTREMIST GROUPS IN THE INTERNET ENVIRONMENT

Abstract. The aim of the article is to consider the psychological characteristics of involvement of youth in extremist community through the Internet. Methods. The theoretical analysis and modeling were used as the main methods. Results. The Internet is described as a means and space of psychological influence on young people, which can be both positive and negative. Absorption of teenagers, boys and young men, in a virtual space essentially converts their activity and, as a result, transform the leading activity, which in turn leads to different mental tumors. Three main effects from the exposure of the Internet are found out: «the effect of the goals of drift», mythology and «the effect of excitement»; their impact on the individual in each age periods is noted. Consideration of the main motivational reasons, taking into account the specifics of building human interaction with the environment made it possible to identify and describe the main types of behavioural patterns exhibited by young people on the Internet. The degree of activity of young people in the network is described from the perspective of integrated strategies of behaviour: information blocking, changes in the distance, control, transformations. Risk groups of users, the most susceptible to extremist manipulations are designated. «Vulnerability areas» of representatives of each group are summarized and described; a step-by-step algorithm of victims’ involvement in extremist communities by recruiters is described. Scientific novelty of the present study consists in discussion of one of the most acute problems of the present – the changed conditions of a growing and socialization of younger generation; constant stay in network virtual space is an integral part of today’s existence, wherein unformed and immature person is very vulnerable to the influence of extremist content. To prevent the increased potential threat of involvement of young people in destructive, asocial and criminal activity, the authors suggest to draw close attention and to subject to the purposeful attacks of extremist communities. Detailed studying of social and psychological features of network behaviour of youth being affected by the dangerous content will help to provide well-timed prophylaxis of extremist moods among young people. Practical significance. The materials of the research can be used to identify and effectively prevent the influence of extremist groups on young Internet users.

Political radicalization on the Internet: Extremist content, government control, and the power of victim and jihad videos

The role of the internet in radicalizing individuals to extremist action is much discussed but remains conceptually and empirically unclear. Here we consider right-wing and jihadist use of the Internet – who posts what and where. We focus on extremist content related to radicalization to violent action, and argue that victim videos and jihad videos are particularly powerful in moving individuals to radical action. We interpret these two kinds of video as complementary parts of the kind of mobilization frame studied by social movement theorists. Finally we consider various kinds of government effort to control extremist content on the Internet.

Differential Online Exposure to Extremist Content and Political Violence: Testing the Relative Strength of Social Learning and Competing Perspectives

The present study applies Social Learning (Differential Association) Theory to the explanation of political violence, focusing on exposure to extremist content through new social media (NSM) and controlling for key variables derived from rival theories. Data are gathered using (a) a paper-and-pencil study among high school students, and (b) a web survey targeting youths between 16 and 24 years old. A total of 6020 respondents form the dataset. Binary logistic regression is used to analyze the data. Results show that even when controlling for background variables, strain variables, personality characteristics, moral values, and peer influences, the statistical association between measures of extremism through NSM (ENSM) and self-reported political violence remains significant and fairly constant. The most persistent effects are found for those measures where individuals actively seek out extremist content on the Internet, as opposed to passive and accidental encounters using NSM. Furthermore, offline differential associations with racist and delinquent peers are also strongly and directly related to self-reported political violence, as are some mechanisms from rival perspectives. This indicates that political violence can only partially be explained by social learning and suggests that the impact of ENSM is mediated by real-world associations and that the offline world has to be taken into account.