Extremism & social mediaCountering extremist groups’ social media influence, persuasion
Social media has become a vital channel for terrorist groups to share news and seduce new members. The recent, notable successes of ISIS in the United States and Europe have demonstrated that terror groups can successfully use this approach to further their agenda of violence. While it gets less attention, social media is equally important for groups that are sharing and communicating information to counter extremist discourse. The problem is, how can those looking to counter the violent ideology of groups like ISIS analyze all the conversations to determine what is a significant danger? How can groups countering violent extremism leverage social media to limit the diffusion of extremist ideology? New research aimed at helping to solve this puzzle.
Social media has become a vital channel for terrorist groups to share news and seduce new members. The recent, notable successes of ISIS in the United States and Europe have demonstrated that terror groups can successfully use this approach to further their agenda of violence. While it gets less attention, social media is equally important for groups that are sharing and communicating information to counter extremist discourse.
The problem is, how can those looking to counter the violent ideology of groups like ISIS analyze all the conversations to determine what is a significant danger? How can groups countering violent extremism leverage social media to limit the diffusion of extremist ideology?
Arizona State University will lead new research aimed at helping to solve this puzzle. ASU reports that the university has been selected to receive a highly competitive Minerva grant to gain a better understanding of what types of information “go viral” and under what circumstances.
The ultimate goal will be development of a new logic-based framework to better understand the mindset and motivations of extremist groups. This will help intelligence officials better predict what viral conversations different communities will align with, or what information spikes may lead to real on-the-ground threats. This may, in turn, support the development of new counter-messaging strategies.
The Minerva Initiative is a Department of Defense (DoD)-sponsored, university-based social science research initiative launched by the Secretary of Defense in 2008 focusing on areas of strategic importance to U.S. national security.
This is the second time ASU has been chosen to receive a Minerva award. The university was selected for an inaugural grant in 2009 and collaborative research from that project culminated in internationally recognized work, including a Best Paper award at the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) International Conference on Social Computing in 2013.
“This new project is a transdisciplinary approach to identify core features and underlying mechanisms of information cascades, in which tens and in some cases hundreds of thousands of individuals participate to spread information and opinions across the globe,” said principal investigator Hasan Davulcu, an associate professor in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and director of ASU’s Cognitive Information Processing Systems Lab.
