Internet

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Terrorist use of the Metaverse: new opportunities and new challenges

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Terrorist use of the Metaverse: new opportunities and new challenges

Research shows that terrorists use the Internet to spread their propaganda, communicate, fund their organisations and attacks, train aspiring terrorists and plan and execute attacks off- and online. With the emergence of the metaverse – or Web3 – opportunities will unfold for terrorists online, and so will challenges to tackle these opportunities. Recruitment and attack planning possibilities will likely emerge and new targets might appear. A set of new laws, regulations and capabilities will therefore certainly be needed from stakeholders to ensure users’ safety and prevent the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes.


The Central Role of Memes on Alt-Right Radicalisation in the “Chanosphere”

The Central Role of Memes on Alt-Right Radicalisation in the “Chanosphere”

The internet forms an important component of ideological radicalisation, as it provides a platform for like-minded individuals to communicate in virtual communities like the ‘Chanosphere,’ which in turn allows for extremist groups to develop safe havens of communication and information exchange [1]. Using the case study of a cluster of alt-right terrorist attacks initiated by the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, this analysis will demonstrate that alt-right memes played a central role in radicalisation, in that they acted as vessels of encoded racist ideology which used ‘weaponised irony’ as a means of communicating group identity

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Ethiopia’s Internet Shutdowns: Contributing to humanitarian catastrophe in the Tigray

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Ethiopia’s Internet Shutdowns: Contributing to humanitarian catastrophe in the Tigray

Internet shutdowns are becoming increasingly common across Africa. In Ethiopia, the practice has proven to be one of the government’s favoured tools to control information reaching its subregions’ ethnic groups since at least 2015. After the start of the Tigrayan War in November 2020, Internet cuts have heavily contributed to the creation of the humanitarian crisis.