Over the past decade and a half, counter-narratives – defined as ‘messages that…[demystify], deconstruct or delegitimise extremist narratives’ (Tuck and Silverman 2016: 65) – have become a key part of western efforts to combat terrorism. Placed at the softer end of counter terror (CT) tactics and entering the UK policy discourse in mid-2005, the use… Continue reading “Moving Away from Islamist Extremism: Assessing Counter Narrative Responses to the Far-Right Online”
Often when extremisms come about, they don’t occur in isolation. In the UK, for example, the emergence of extremist mobilisations have occurred subsequent to high-profile counter-movements, counter-protests and terror attacks that suggest a ‘connectivity between extremisms’ (Ranstrop 2010). In the far-right space, we’ve seen this in the creation of the English Defence League (EDL) in… Continue reading “Cumulative Extremism Online: How Moral and Strategic Aims Predict Narrative Escalation”
Manifestos and livestreaming seem to be the new trend in radical right terrorist attacks. Halle is the latest in a string of terrorist attacks inspired by radical-right ideology. It follows the same pattern as its predecessors: a manifesto appears online along with a livestream of the attack. Is this becoming the new modus operandi of… Continue reading “Are we witnessing the rise of a new terrorist trend?”
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”
What does the latest data say about the prevalence of hate crimes across Canada and online? On July 22, Statistics Canada, the agency tasked with producing statistics to help better understand all aspects of Canadian life ranging from population growth to resources to culture, released the new national crime data for 2018. The study, which… Continue reading “Putting Canada’s Hate Crime Data in Context”
Even after hosting companies refuse to keep extremist sites like 8chan online, they find other ways to communicate on the dark web. How do we combat this? In the wake of the El Paso shooting, attention turned once again towards imageboards such as 8chan, and their role in radicalization and the spread of terrorist propaganda.… Continue reading “The Radical Right Is Finding New Ways To Communicate Online”
Understanding how hate groups cohere in online spaces is essential toward understanding their growth and capacity to radicalize. Online radical-right extremist groups exhibit a massive range of ideological stances and approaches, which vary from country to country. These include the affirmed political stances of alt-right groups, the social movement-like practices of groups like Generation Identity,… Continue reading “Understanding Digital Hate Culture”
This blog post draws on content from a chapter for a forthcoming report from VOX-Pol (voxpol.eu) In the last three decades, the emergence of digital communications has had a significant impact on how the radical right communicates, both between members and toward external audiences. For the most part, we tend to think about digital communications… Continue reading “Radical Right Digital Communications: Webforums, Political Blogs, and the Swarm”
