VOX-Pol released its Violent Extremism and Terrorism Online in 2017: The Year in Review today, 20 February 2018. This is the second publication in the Year in Review series following the Year in Review 2016.
The report treats developments in the violent extremist and terrorist online scene(s) and responses to them in the 12 month period from 1 December 2016 to 30 November 2017.
The report was originally prepared for the Third Ministerial Meeting of the EU Internet Forum (EUIF), held in Brussels on 6 December 2017.
An update on the report was presented at a Senior Officials Meeting of the EUIF in Brussels on 5 February 2018.
The report identifies that politicians, policymakers, and heavily trafficked social media platforms took a stronger stand on the use of the internet, particularly social media, by violent extremists and terrorists and their supporters in the period under review, although this caused civil liberties organisations considerable disquiet.
While the report finds that content production and circulation by the so-called ‘Islamic State’ (IS) was degraded in 2017, it also points to the increased mainstreaming of the extreme right, including online.