Tech Against Terrorism

In this week’s episode, we discuss the state of extremism in the Nordic region. We focus on Sweden as the long-term epicentre of regional far-right extremism, and explore the Nordic Resistance Movement’s (NRM) evolution. We also discuss the role of online platforms in amplifying NRM’s reach and radicalising supporters to violence and what can be done to counter this.

Join Archie Macfarlane as he speaks with Morgan Finnsiö, a journalist, researcher and educator at the anti-racist foundation Expo, which aims to defend democratic society against the threat posed by racism.

You can read a transcript of this episode here.

If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter, where you can find resources on this topic. 

In this week’s episode, we delve into extremist manifestos and how they’ve been used by perpetrators of violent attacks to promote their ideology and inspire further violence and hatred. We cover the evolution of manifestos as a terrorist tactic, discuss different authors and styles, and focus on the role of the internet in amplifying their reach and impact.

Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to J.M. Berger,  a Senior Research Fellow for the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, the author of four critically acclaimed books, and a research and policy consultant to tech companies and U.S. government agencies.

You can read a transcript of this episode here.  

If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week’s episode explores conspiracy theories, and their potency as tools of persuasion. We examine how conspiratorial narratives are common across extremist propaganda throughout history and their role in justifying and motivating violence towards certain groups. We also discuss how the internet has influenced the narrative power of conspiracies and consider the challenges AI and Large Language Models (LLM) present for tackling extreme conspiracies online. 

Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Dr Stephane Baele, Professor of International Relations at UCLouvain (Belgium), and Honorary Associate Professor of Security & Political Violence at the University of Exeter, UK.

You can read a transcript of this episode here.

If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter, where you can find resources on this topic.

This week’s episode focuses on the ways in which gender identity is discussed and expressed within different segments of the online far-right. We investigate the #tradwives movement - a social media trend used by far-right supporters to promote traditional gender roles, discuss its ideological roots, and consider the challenges for moderating such content.

Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Ninian Frenguelli, a PhD candidate at Swansea University studying gender in the online extreme right.

You can read a transcript of this episode here.

If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week’s episode focuses on Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K), a regional affiliate of Islamic State primarily active in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We discuss the group in the context of the Taliban takeover two years ago, assessing the threat posed by the group to the region and to the West. We also focus on IS-K’s online activity and the increasingly prominent role the affiliate plays in IS propaganda, recruitment, and operational output.

Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to two members of the Tech Against Terrorism Open Source-Intelligence (OSINT) team: Arthur Bradley, the OSINT Manager with a background in security intelligence and specific expertise on terrorist propaganda, and Louise Meloy, an OSINT analyst who has previously worked for the EU Commission and NATO on security policy as well as in the private sector as an intel analyst.

TAT analysis: After the Taliban Takeover: How Islamic State-Khorasan Are Exploiting the Online Ecosystem and Projecting the Threat

You can read a transcript of this episode here.

If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we're discussing the unique psychological risks that exist for those working in the field of online counterterrorism. We provide practical guidance for identifying, understanding and combating trauma and other mental health issues associated with exposure to terrorist material, and explore the roles and responsibilities of both practitioner and organisation in mitigating these impacts to welfare.

Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Stevie Voogt, Director of People & Culture at Moonshot, a social enterprise working to end online harms. And Fiona Dunkley, a consultant senior psychotherapist, author and founder of FD Consultants, a network of trauma specialist therapists offering psychosocial support to people exposed to traumatic material in their work.

You can read a transcript of this episode here. 

Resources:

• Strategies for Researchers Analysing Terrorist and Violent Extremist Content (TVEC)
• Resource list on researcher welfare
• Protecting Your Mental Health: Vicarious Trauma Support
• Exposure to Traumatic Material: 3 Stages of Support
• Protecting Staff from Vicarious Trauma 

If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter @techvsterrorism, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we're investigating the online activity of Islamic State (IS), an Islamist terrorist organisation renowned for its highly sophisticated media strategy and exploitation of the internet to disseminate its propaganda and recruit members. 

We'll be examining how IS and its supporter networks have evolved in their use of the internet, what platforms and technologies they exploit, and the techniques they use to avoid tech platform moderation. We’ll also touch on the work being carried out by Tech Against Terrorism to monitor and combat the group’s online activities.

Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Meili Criezis, a Graduate Fellow at the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL), and Raphael Gluck, Co-Founder of JihadOScope, an organisation that monitors Jihadist activity across the internet.

You can read a transcript of this episode here. 

You can find Tech Against Terrorism’s ‘State of Play: Trends in Terrorist and Violent Extremist Use of the Internet 2022’ report here. 

If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter @techvsterrorism, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we’re investigating the use of podcasts by extremist actors, a growing and concerning trend, which, over the last decade or so, has seen extremists leveraging this medium to spread their ideology, recruit followers and network with like minded individuals. 

Our expert guests expose how extremist groups and networks on the far-right have created an alternative media ecosystem that is reinforcing and normalising hateful ideologies, fringe ideas, and conspiratorial narratives. We also discuss how the ease of creating and distributing audio content has allowed these actors to regularly produce content that reaches a global audience and the challenges in moderating this content.

Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Dr Megan Squire, Deputy Director for Data Analytics and OSINT (open source intelligence) at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and Bjørn Ihler, co-founder and CEO of Glitterpill and Director of the Khalifa Ihler Institute, a global peacebuilding foundation.

You can read a transcript of this episode here.  

If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter @techvsterrorism, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we’re exploring the role of the internet in the mainstreaming of radical ideas, which are increasingly infiltrating politics and popular culture. We also get a deeper insight into online extremist communities to understand what’s driving these ideas and how radicalisation is occurring.

Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Dr Julia Ebner, a Senior Resident Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), specialising in far-right extremism, reciprocal radicalisation, conspiracy myths and terrorism prevention. Julia is an award-winning and best-selling author of several books including:

The Rage: The Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far-Right Extremism

Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists

Going Mainstream: How Extremists are Taking Over

You can read a transcript of this episode here. 

If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter @techvsterrorism, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we’re diving deeper into the nexus between gaming and extremism, exploring how gaming culture, storylines and symbols are being appropriated by extremist actors, and unpacking the concept of ‘identity fusion’: the phenomenon whereby players emotionally and psychologically merge their real-life identity with that of their in-game avatar or character. 

Our guests also discuss how the growing immersiveness of online games and the increasingly blurred line between reality and virtual reality might impact radicalisation processes, and touch on how stakeholders can get ahead of this threat.

Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Dr Rachel Kowert, a research psychologist and Research Director of gaming and mental health organisation Take This, and Dr Ashton Kingdon, a lecturer of Criminology at the University of Southampton. 

You can read a transcript of this episode here.

To find out more about the Extremism and Gaming Research Network (EGRN), visit https://extremismandgaming.org/.

If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter @techvsterrorism, where you can find resources on this topic.