Publications Archive

SCN Publications Toolkits Digital Dispatches

Under-Moderated, Unhinged and Ubiquitous: Al-Shabaab and the Islamic State Networks on Facebook 
This report outlines networks of Somali, Kiswahili and Arabic pages and profiles on Facebook which are supportive of al-Shabaab and the Islamic State. It serves as a a case study into the moderation blind spots of the platform in languages outside of English, and illustrates how terrorist supporters are exploiting these gaps.
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The Vladimirror Network: Pro-Putin Power-Users on Facebook
This briefing outlines the mechanics, narratives, and linkages of the pro-Putin power users — those that produce content at a high-rate day in and day out since the start of the invasion — on Facebook to pro-Kremlin groups and pages, painting a picture of a coordinated, seemingly inauthentic campaign intended to buttress the image of Putin in a range of languages and geographies.
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Conspiracy Clickbait: This One Weird Trick Will Undermine Democracy
This report uses case studies to examine the growth of conspiracy theories as clickbait, which will supercharge existing problems of disinformation and polarisation.
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Islamogram: Salafism and Alt-Right Online Subcultures
This report provides an ethnographic deep dive into an emerging online Salafi ecosystem, referred to by its members as ‘Islamogram’.
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Ill Advice: A Case Study in Facebook’s Failure to Tackle COVID-19 Disinformation
This report aims to examine Facebook's efforts at tackling false information related to COVID-19 and vaccines on its platform by analysing the presence of a group called the World Doctors Alliance, whose members have spread various problematic, false and conspiratorial claims about the pandemic since March 2020.
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‘Climate Lockdown’ and the Culture Wars: How COVID-19 Sparked a New Narrative Against Climate Action
This report documents a new trend used to drive anti-climate debate online – ‘Climate Lockdown’ – focussing on English-language content within the UK and US contexts. It documents the emergence of this narrative in March 2020, spurred by the public health response to COVID-19, and the subsequent evolution and spread of content across social media.
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Policy Paper: Mainstreamed Extremism and the Future of Prevention
This policy paper considers the paradigm shift in prevention approaches required to respond to today's extremism challenges, focusing on a human rights based approach.
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Hatescape: An In-Depth Analysis of Extremism and Hate Speech on TikTok
This research examined how TikTok is used to promote white supremacist conspiracy theories, produce weapons manufacturing advice, glorify extremists, terrorists, fascists and dictators, direct targeted harassment against minorities and produce content that denies that violent events like genocides ever happened. Furthermore, the report includes analysis of how users seek to evade takedowns by TikTok.
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Gamers Who Hate: An Introduction to ISD’s Gaming and Extremism Series
This report serves as an introduction to ISD's Gaming and Extremism series, which explores the use of the gaming-related platforms Steam, Discord, Twitch and DLive by the extreme right, concentrating specifically on the UK. The series provides snapshot analyses designed to identify key trends and patterns which can provide the groundwork for future analysis.
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Bankrolling Bigotry: An overview of the Online Funding Strategies of American Hate Groups
Hatred is surging across the United States, threatening the safety, security and wellbeing of minority communities, and societal harmony writ large. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and Global Disinformation Index (GDI) have analysed the digital footprints of 73 US-based hate groups, assessing the extent to which they used 54 online funding mechanisms.
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Latest

Der Forschungsbericht des ISD untersucht Facebooks Rolle in der Bekämpfung von impfstoff- und pandemiebezogenen Falschinformationen. Im Fokus steht hierbei der Umgang des Social Media Riesen mit der sog. World Doctors Alliance – einer Vereinigung von Ärzten, die seit März 2020 verschiedene problematische, falsche und verschwörerische Behauptungen über die Pandemie verbreitet hat.

This report focuses on the role of right-wing extremist communities in amplifying and spreading COVID-19 conspiracy content and misinformation on Telegram.

Dieser Bericht des ISD Germany zeigt auf wie Rechtsextreme und Verschwörungsideolog:innen Telegram zur Verlinkung von Inhalten auf andere Plattformen verwenden. Der Fokus liegt dabei insbesondere auf kleineren alternativen Plattformen, die auf Grund ihrer geringen Nutzer:innenzahlen (noch) nicht unter die Löschpflicht des NetzDG fallen.

This report provides a summary of anti-lockdown activity in Canada, encompassing the key figures, groups and ideological overlaps of those involved.

This report outlines a prototype taxonomy for classifying terrorist and violent extremist content. It proposes dividing this content into the categories of ‘inspirational material’, ‘ideological material’, and ‘instructional material’ along one axis, ‘violent’ and ‘non-violent’ on another, and ‘group’ and ‘non-group’ on a third.

In this series of briefings, ISD takes a look at anti-lockdown activity across Europe and North America. This paper provides a summary of this series, comparing these phenomena across borders, and identifying commonalities between these contexts.

This report provides a summary of anti-lockdown activity in Canada, encompassing the key figures, groups and ideological overlaps of those involved.

Diese Studie untersucht die Rolle des Klimaschutzes im Bundestagswahlkampf der Parteien und in der Öffentlichkeit auf Facebook und Twitterund und analysiert die Debatte auf die Verbreitung von Falschinformationen.

Diese Kurzanalyse untersuchte eine Stichprobe von 100 Kommentaren unter einem Instagram Post des deutschen Kanals des russischen Staatsmediums RT (RT DE) zum tödlichen Angriff auf einen Tankstellenangestellten in Idar-Oberstein vom 18. September 2021. Ziel war es, ein stichprobenartiges Lagebild der Narrative und Einstellungen der Kommentare zur Tat auszuwerten.

This report takes a look ahead at Kenya’s upcoming elections and what measures and preparations should be put in place to prevent the spread of racially- and ethnically-motivated violence that have marred previous elections in the country.

Under-Moderated, Unhinged and Ubiquitous: Al-Shabaab and the Islamic State Networks on Facebook

The Vladimirror Network: Pro-Putin Power-Users on Facebook

Conspiracy Clickbait: This One Weird Trick Will Undermine Democracy

Islamogram: Salafism and Alt-Right Online Subcultures

Ill Advice: A Case Study in Facebook’s Failure to Tackle COVID-19 Disinformation

‘Climate Lockdown’ and the Culture Wars: How COVID-19 Sparked a New Narrative Against Climate Action

Policy Paper: Mainstreamed Extremism and the Future of Prevention

Hatescape: An In-Depth Analysis of Extremism and Hate Speech on TikTok

Gamers Who Hate: An Introduction to ISD’s Gaming and Extremism Series

Bankrolling Bigotry: An overview of the Online Funding Strategies of American Hate Groups

Latest

Schlechter Rat: Eine Fallstudie über das Versagen von Facebook bei der Bekämpfung von ärztlicher COVID-19-Desinformation

The Conspiracy Consortium: Examining Discussions of COVID-19 Among Right-Wing Extremist Telegram Channels

Stützpfeiler Telegram. Wie Rechtsextreme und Verschwörungsideolog:innen auf Telegram ihre Infrastruktur ausbauen

Anti-Lockdown Activity: Ireland Country Profile

A Taxonomy for the Classification of Post-Organisational Violent Extremist & Terrorist Content

Between Conspiracy and Extremism: A Long COVID Threat? An Introductory Paper

Anti-Lockdown Activity: Canada Country Profile

Kalter Wind von Rechts: Wie rechte Parteien und Akteur:innen die Klimakrise zu ihren Gunsten missbrauchen Eine Analyse über falsche Fakten, Feindbilder und Desinformationsnarrative im Umfeld der Bundestagswahl 2021.

Wie Instagram scheitert, gegen Hetze vorzugehen: Der Fall Idar-Oberstein.

Polarising Content and Hate Speech Ahead of Kenya’s 2022 Elections: Challenges and Ways Forward