Contextual
Resources

Once a government or tech company develops a definition of terrorism or violent extremism, it can be difficult to know how to apply these definitions to the variety of ways that terrorism and violent extremism manifests internationally and across online spaces.

This section of the site aims to highlight contextual resources on themes related to applying definitions to the online space.  GIFCT funds the Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET) to bring forward actionable insights from experts and practitioners around the world to better inform and give context to tech companies, governments, practitioners and other stakeholders in this field. Insights are curated here under context-based themes.

Filters

Ideology

Ideologically motivated violent groups and movements take different forms in different parts of the world. In a post-9/11 framework, and particularly since the rise of ISIS, most terrorist studies and counter-extremism work have focussed on Islamist extremist groups. However, we also see modern trends of groups associated with white supremacy and neo-Naziism, misogyny-based violent extremist groups often referred to as being part of the “incel” community, far-left groups, and neo-nationalist groups such as the Hindutva movement and Buddhist extremist groups in Asia. Across international far-right violent extremist trends we see an increase in violence inducing conspiracy theory networks, including new trends revolving around anti-vaccination movements and even anti-5G movements that have an effect on technology companies.

Far-Right

Insights can aid in contextualizing the overall ideology and diversity of groups implied by the term “Far-Right”. Relevant research focusing on the Far-Right and White Supremacy present useful explorations of how groups have attempted to exploit and sometimes been deplatformed by platforms, along with wider exposés on global online far right activity. Additionally, available research hones in on particular groups such as QAnon, the Proud Boys, amongst others.

  • 17th October 2022
    The Venomous Rhetorical Web of Far-Right Terrorists
    Julia Kupper
  • 27th September 2022
    Resurrecting the Reich: Middle Eastern and North African Digital Nazi Communities
    Moustafa Ayad
  • 14th September 2022
    The Tate Storm: Why Banning Andrew Tate from Social Media Will Not Stop the ‘King of Toxic Masculinity’
    Abhinaya Murthy
  • 12th September 2022
    Analysing Terrorgram Publications: A New Digital Zine
    Matthew Kriner and Bjørn Ihler
  • 08th September 2022
    Right-Wing Extremists’ Use of the Internet: Emerging Trends in the Empirical Literature
    Dr. Ryan Scrivens, Tiana Gaudette, Dr. Maura Conway and Dr. Thomas J. Holt
  • 31st August 2022
    The Time for e-Democracy is Now: How a Digitally Functional Democracy Could Prevent Extremist Accelerationism
    Jon Deedman
  • 23rd August 2022
    Incel Extremism in India: A View from the Global South
    Gurpreet Kaur
  • 19th August 2022
    How QAnon is Dealing With The FBI Raid on Trump
    Mike Rains
  • 15th August 2022
    Understanding The Incel Experience Online
    Maeve Park

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