Violent extremist groups on social media

Violent extremism is a set of beliefs that justifies killing civilians in dramatic acts aimed to inspire fear and terror. Violent extremists usually believe in an authoritarian narrative that is intolerant, patriarchal and opposes participatory democracy (Schirch 2018). Before social media, a terror group like ISIS had little opportunity to communicate or recruit members outside of their own community. Violent extremist groups exploit social media secrecy, scope and scale as well as platform algorithms that amplify their highly emotional, fear-based narratives. Violent extremist groups use Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok and Telegram as well as less well-known sites that allow more anonymity, like Reddit, YouTube, 4chan and 8chan to recruit, share photos of terrorist acts, share information such as training manuals and to raise funds. ISIS and white supremacists in the US, Germany and other countries rely heavily on social media to recruit and organise. German white nationalist groups coordinate flash mob attacks on immigrants via posts on social media (Bennhold 2018).

Social media platforms profit from the high traffic extremist’s controversial posts garner. In April 2018, Facebook testified to the US Congress that it was removing extremist content. But in July 2018, the Counter Extremism Project found that Facebook was not taking down material denying the Holocaust or promoting terrorism and violence against women. Analysts noted that extremist content is sometimes removed but that profit-generating extremist content is often left in place (Counter Extremism Project 2018).

Until 2017, white supremacist groups could sell Nazi merchandise or invite people to a white supremacy rally using Facebook’s Custom Audiences while making sure that Jews would not see the advertisement (Angwin, Varner, and Tobin 2017). It remained possible in 2018 for advertisers to intentionally exclude specific groups, such as ethnic or racial minorities, or people over 50, in their advertisements for housing or jobs on Facebook, despite repeated promises and several lawsuits pressing the company to fix this problem (Tobin 2018). Facebook promised to ensure that advertisers could not discriminate against legally protected minorities in the US immediately and stated that this promise would eventually be extended to other countries (Perez 2018). Just as white supremacist groups and ISIS use social media with the intent of recruiting new members, so do political candidates, including those with the intent of undermining democracy, attempt to persuade target audiences on social media.