Promoting Online Voices for Countering Violent Extremism

Abstract

Al-Qa ida and its adherents have sought to promote their vision of militant jihad through an increasing propaganda campaign on the Internet. They have used chatrooms and message boards to create and foster communities of radical interest.1 They have published radical e-magazines and thousands of extremist YouTube videos.2 Some have also embarked on campaigns using Twitter and Facebook.3 This content increasingly targets Western audiences, seeks to argue that the West is at war against Islam, offers religious and ideological justifications for violence, and exhorts followers to take up the cause and act. It is true that this campaign has produced an extremely low yield of recruits in the United States and that vast majorities of American Muslims hold no sympathies for al-Qa ida s distorted vision, but even the rarest success can have disastrous consequences.4

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA580832

Entities

People

  • Erin York
  • Peter Chalk
  • Todd C.

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Civil Rights
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Foreign Relations
  • Homeland Security
  • Human Population
  • Internet
  • Law
  • National Security
  • Online Communications
  • Radicalization
  • Social Media
  • Social Networking Services
  • Social Networks
  • Societies
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • United States

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Educational Psychology
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.