Online as the New Frontline: Affect, Gender, and ISIS-Take-Down on Social Media

Pearson, Elizabeth

doi:10.1080/1057610x.2017.1352280

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(19 reference statements)

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“…11 This does not mean they do not promote violence, however, often shaming men into action. 12 Similarly, those working on women's roles in the far right, have outlined the possibilities for women joining white supremacist, Nazi and radical right groupsdespite the homosociality of such groups -and their findings mirror those above. While fewer in number, and often without leadership powers, many far right women embrace roles of domesticity, what Hardisty termed "kitchen sink activism."…”

Section: Part I: Extremism and Gender: A Fundamental Relationship?mentioning

confidence: 88%

Gendered Reflections? Extremism in the UK’s Radical Right and al-Muhajiroun Networks

Pearson

2020

Studies in Conflict & Terrorism

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The rise of populism and the radical right alongside ongoing global recruitment by jihadist groups has seen academics and popular discourse alike note parallels between the two. In particular, authors have emphasized gendered similarities between the movements. Based on 'close-up' ethnographic research, this article empirically shows how gender produces group members' activism in two extreme movements: a network linked to the U.K.'s banned Islamist group al-Muhajiroun; and activists for the English Defence League, Britain First and other anti-Islam(ist) groups. Through a gendered analysis, the article problematizes assertions that the two movements mirror one another. In particular, it emphasizes the ways in which gender produces fragmentation across the anti-Islam(ist) movement, contrasted with a more consistent gendered logic in those networked to al-Muhajiroun. Its key contribution is to use ethnographic research to evidence the ways in which group members' gendered activism ultimately undercuts group ideals. "Islamophobia is fear of Islam, and people should be afraid". Interview, Akash, 6 February 2017 "The rapid growth of militant Islam is leading to the suppression of women, freedom of speech and racist attacks.. .We will make Britain a beautiful country once again where you can leave your door unlocked and your children can play in the streets." 1 Britain First, Mission Statement

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Section: Part I: Extremism and Gender: A Fundamental Relationship?mentioning

confidence: 88%

Gendered Reflections? Extremism in the UK’s Radical Right and al-Muhajiroun Networks

Pearson

2020

Studies in Conflict & Terrorism

Self Cite

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“…First, disruption on Twitter has led to the migration of pro‐ISIS activity to encrypted messaging applications such as Telegram (Prucha, 2016). Second, having faced suspension on Twitter and other social media platforms can be a badge of pride for extremists, and plays a role in community‐building among these networks (Pearson, 2018).…”

Section: Content Moderation and Takedownmentioning

confidence: 99%

Countering Extremists on Social Media: Challenges for Strategic Communication and Content Moderation

Ganesh¹,

Bright²

2020

Policy & Internet

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Extremist exploitation of social media platforms is an important regulatory question for civil society, government, and the private sector. Extremists exploit social media for a range of reasons—from spreading hateful narratives and propaganda to financing, recruitment, and sharing operational information. Policy responses to this question fit under two headings, strategic communication and content moderation. At the center of both of these policy responses is a calculation about how best to limit audience exposure to extremist narratives and maintain the marginality of extremist views, while being conscious of rights to free expression and the appropriateness of restrictions on speech. This special issue on “Countering Extremists on Social Media: Challenges for Strategic Communication and Content Moderation” focuses on one form of strategic communication, countering violent extremism. In this editorial we discuss the background and effectiveness of this approach, and introduce five articles which develop multiple strands of research into responses and solutions to extremist exploitation of social media. We conclude by suggesting an agenda for future research on how multistakeholder initiatives to challenge extremist exploitation of social media are conceived, designed, and implemented, and the challenges these initiatives need to surmount.

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“…This is particularly important in the current context, given that claims of anti-Muslim prejudice are utilised by jihadist radicalisers who deploy an us vs. them discourse to Other the West (Lorenzo-Dus and Macdonald, 2018). Indeed, a study of IS Twitter activity found that suspension played an important role in community-building, with the majority of the accounts studied referring to Twitter's use of suspension as a specific tool to persecute Muslims (Pearson, 2017). Examples included the tweets ‘There has been a major Twitter purge targeting Muslims’ and ‘I got #Radicalised when me and my people started to get suspended on every social media platform’.…”

Section: Prior Restraint and Technological Due Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulating terrorist content on social media: automation and the rule of law

Macdonald

Correia

Watkin

2019

International Journal of Law in Context

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Social-media companies make extensive use of artificial intelligence in their efforts to remove and block terrorist content from their platforms. This paper begins by arguing that, since such efforts amount to an attempt to channel human conduct, they should be regarded as a form of regulation that is subject to rule-of-law principles. The paper then discusses three sets of rule-of-law issues. The first set concerns enforceability. Here, the paper highlights the displacement effects that have resulted from the automated removal and blocking of terrorist content and argues that regard must be had to the whole social-media ecology, as well as to jihadist groups other than the so-called Islamic State and other forms of violent extremism. Since rulebylaw is only a necessary, and not a sufficient, condition for compliance with rule-of-law values, the paper then goes on to examine two further sets of issues: the clarity with which social-media companies define terrorist content and the adequacy of the processes by which a user may appeal against an account suspension or the blocking or removal of content. The paper concludes by identifying a range of research questions that emerge from the discussion and that together form a promising and timely research agenda to which legal scholarship has much to contribute.

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Online as the New Frontline: Affect, Gender, and ISIS-Take-Down on Social Media

Cited by 29 publications

References 26 publications

Gendered Reflections? Extremism in the UK’s Radical Right and al-Muhajiroun Networks

Gendered Reflections? Extremism in the UK’s Radical Right and al-Muhajiroun Networks

Countering Extremists on Social Media: Challenges for Strategic Communication and Content Moderation

Regulating terrorist content on social media: automation and the rule of law

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