Of social media and youth radicalisation

The phenomenon of 'violent extremism' is growing day by day around the world. Side by side, there has been a plethora of research on youth radicalisation in the recent years. However, as most of the research works have focused on the source and content of radical messages, a key missing element has been understanding the dynamics that take place at the very end of the communication chain - that is, how young people actually receive and perceive messages, and what conditions make them more receptive to extremist recruiting. Do social media lead vulnerable individuals to resort to violence? Many people believe it does. And they respond with online censorship, surveillance and counter-speech. But what do we really know about the Internet as a cause, and what do we know about the impact of these reactions? Understanding the 'process' of radicalisation, rather than the content of the ideology, is thus crucial for developing effective interventions to disrupt those processes. The UNESCO publication titled 'Youth and Violent Extremism on Social Media - Mapping the Research' provides a global mapping of research (mainly during 2012-16) on the assumed roles played by social media in violent radicalisation processes, especially when they affect the young people and women. The study responds to the belief that the Internet at large is an active vector for violent radicalisation that facilitates the proliferation of violent extremist ideologies. While Internet may play a facilitating role, it is not established that there is a causative link between it and radicalisation towards extremism, violent radicalisation, or the commission of actual acts of extremist violence.

This review of research encompasses the diverse forms of violent radicalisation phenomena, which aim to use violence as a technique of their claims, communication and action strategies. The first section introduces the Report, its objectives and its structure. Because the concept of violent radicalisation is still far from being unanimous, Section 2 of this report is dedicated to define the concept as it is used in the systematic reviews. This review takes into account the critical approaches of the sociology of radicalisation, which highlights the political, cultural and social contradictions of the very notion of radicalism. Radicalism has been used inappropriately and interchangeably with notions such as fundamentalism (usually refers to a religious approach), indoctrination (refers to a process of mental control), extremism and terrorism, among others. In this Report, radicalisation in the literature is assessed in terms of a conceptual distinction between a process of radicalisation, a process of violent radicalisation (legitimising the adoption of violence), and acts of violence, even if these are sometimes conflated in the studies that are examined.

Sections 3, 4, and 5 synthesise the evidence on the role of Internet and social media in violent radicalisation of youth in four large geographical areas where scientific literature is available, notably North America and Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Arab world, parts of Africa and Asia. Analysing more than 550 studies published in various literatures, covering outputs in English, French and Arabic, the report shows that very little research works have focused on the effective role of the use of social media in violent radicalisation. Although many articles deal with electronic strategies and the use of the Internet and online social media for recruitment, there are very few empirical studies that describe and examine the real effects of these strategies on youth, and they rarely examine gender aspects. The 6th section of the report examines the specificities of online prevention initiatives: counter/ alternative narratives and media information literacy (MIL). Several formal and informal MIL initiatives have been implemented around the world according to MIL as a pedagogical practice with a specific set of skills that can respond to narratives of anger and revenge.

Section 7 summarises the key findings of the review. The current state of evidence on the link between Internet, social media and violent radicalisation is very limited and still inconclusive, and particularly in the field of information and communication sciences as compared to other disciplines (history, sociology, psychology). Most of the reviewed studies remain predominantly descriptive and whenever empirical data is drawn, most studies are of low methodological quality, small-scale and rely on limited data sets. As a result, they fail to provide evidence on the drivers of interest to extremist sites, engagement in social media on these issues, the reasons for influence of content and the external and internal correlated factors, as well as the trajectories of youth who come to perpetrate violent acts. This being said, some evidence also suggests that Internet and social media may play a role in the violent radicalisation process, mainly through the dissemination of information and propaganda.

In Section 8, analysis of the effects of social media on the violent radicalisation shows that there is a small amount of qualitative data on the subject, in contrast with the literature on the empowerment of young people on the secure use of the Internet. While there is an increase of the 'grey' literature, the academic field is more under-researched and under-theorised. The exact roles and processes through which Internet and social media contribute to the process of radicalisation still need to be explored. However, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that there is a causal link between extremist propaganda or recruitment on social networks and the violent radicalisation of young people. The synthesis of evidence shows, at its best, that social media is an environment that facilitates violent radicalisation, rather than driving it.

On the basis of the literature assessed in this Report, the concluding section offers recommendations that can be useful for various stakeholders. Violent radicalisation of youths needs to be taken as a complex process, in which social media are not separated from other communication platforms, and from various offline factors. While reception of online radicalisation efforts is still under-researched, the activities and uses of social media by terrorists are well known. Increased efforts of civil society organisations are needed to leverage social media to drive the formulation and dissemination of peaceful messages, alternative and counter-narratives that challenge terrorist propaganda and hate speech.

S. M. Rayhanul Islam is an independent researcher.

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