Research and analysis

Extremism online: analysis of extremist material on social media

Professor Imran Awan, Birmingham City University, Hollie Sutch, Birmingham City University, Dr Pelham Carter, Birmingham City University.

• From: Commission for Countering Extremism
• Published: 31 July 2019
• Last updated: 25 September 2019 — See all updates

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Extremism online: analysis of extremist material on social media

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Details

This paper examines the role of extremism online and uses two primary studies to generate empirical evidence that examines the differences between general online discussion of extremism and discussion inspired by offline events through the analysis of tweets and YouTube comments. We focus on two offline events (the Shamima Begum case and the New Zealand Christchurch terrorist attacks).

Our findings suggest that increased anonymity is associated with an increase in extremist language, that conspiracy theory and media bias based language is more common in response to offline events than general online discussion.

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Published 31 July 2019
Last updated 25 September 2019 + show all updates

1. 25 September 2019

   Disclaimer added to clarify that the views in the paper do not necessarily represent the views of the UK government.

2. 31 July 2019

   First published.