Tackling Extremism in the Digital Realm: Analyzing Content Features and Behaviors of Jihadists and Far-Right Extremists

• In Event: EXTR8 Extremism in times of uncertainty

Abstract

The dissemination of terrorist content online has emerged as a major concern in recent years, with extremist groups exploiting digital spaces to propagate their messages and recruit new members. This paper aims to analyze online content features and behaviors associated with jihadist and far-right terrorism. The analysis relies on both desktop and empirical qualitative research, identifying an array of indicators to assess the risk that specific online content is related to terrorism.
The preliminary results shed light on: a) evolving techniques used by terrorists, who exploit loopholes in platform moderation algorithms to disseminate content; b) the presence of common narratives and elements in the content disseminated by jihadists and far-right terrorists; c) the different challenges in enforcing Regulation (EU) 2021/784 in relation to jihadist and far-right terrorist content. The study is conducted under the EU co-funded ALLIES project, “AI-based framework for supporting micro and small Hosting Service Providers (HSPs) on the report and removal of online terrorist content”.

Authors

• Clara Rondani, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

• Caterina Paternoster, Transcrime - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

• Marina Mancuso, Transcrime - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore