Using covert speech to avoid detection and migrating to more extremist platforms underlines that censoring far-right actors from social media is not always an easy or desirable practice. Since 2016, censorship of far-right groups and individuals on social media platforms has been the subject of much public discussion. With the implementation of laws to counter… Continue reading “The effects of censoring the far-right online”
Since 2017, one-third of terror plots with an aim to kill were linked to far-right ideologies. In September, the highest-ranking counterterrorism officer in Britain, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, declared the far-right to be the fastest growing terrorist threat to Britain. According to the Met, in the last year, a quarter of all terrorism… Continue reading “Far-Right Terrorism Is Now Britain’s Fastest Growing Problem”
This might be effective to counter frontmen like Tommy Robinson, but is it enough to tackle the wider ideology of the radical right? On Friday 13th September, radical right activist Tommy Robinson was released from prison after serving 9 weeks for contempt of court. Robinson was first jailed for this offence last year, when he… Continue reading “Will online takedowns defeat the offline radical right?”
The world is watching over a billion hours of video content per day on YouTube, and easy-to-use recording and streaming tools can turn anyone with a smartphone into a broadcaster. Social media platforms are rewarding this new crop of “content creators” with the ability to become a household name and earn money from their videos.… Continue reading “Alt-Tech & the Radical Right, Part 2: Inside the Radical Right’s Video Addiction”
Introduction Distributed web, cryptocurrencies, blockchain-based video live-streaming are some of the so-called “Alt-Tech” tools that some radical right actors are beginning to use as they continue to be removed from regular social media platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. In this series of articles, I’ll break down how a few of the key Alt-Tech… Continue reading “Alt-Tech and the Radical Right, Part 1: Why the Shift?”