Blog
The Playful Undertones of Radicalization
July 6, 2022
By Scott DeJong When it comes to understanding the Freedom Convoy and right-wing extremism, play offers a unique entry point. A week into the Freedom Convoy, a new symbol for the occupation graced social media: a bouncy castle. The children’s play feature, at first, seems off-kilter for a movement whose arrival in Ottawa began with ...
Blog
Extreme Wives: A Gender Analysis of Online Extremism—the Case of Jihadi Brides and Tradwives
May 4, 2022
By Marco Farucci The events of January 6th showcased the strength of online communities and their ability to transfer extremist ideologies from the online to the offline world. Online extremism usually takes the form of violent, racist, and misogynistic content on social media. The business models of social media platforms are designed with ‘suggesting mechanisms’ ...
Blog
Tackling Online Radicalization at Its Offline Roots
February 3, 2021
Want to submit a blog post? Click here. By William Baldét You would be forgiven for thinking that the advent of Covid-19 and the accompanying lockdowns have led to the mass radicalization of our youth, consigned to cyberspace, and exposed to vast swathes of online terrorist propaganda. It’s true that cases of ‘self-radicalization’ in the ...
Blog
Don’t Just Blame YouTube’s Algorithms for ‘Radicalisation’. Humans Also Play a Part
December 18, 2019
By Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández and Joanne Gray People watch more than a billion hours of video on YouTube every day. Over the past few years, the video sharing platform has come under fire for its role in spreading and amplifyingextreme views. YouTube’s video recommendation system, in particular, has been criticised for radicalising young people and steering viewers ...