Tech Against Terrorism

This week’s episode focuses on the ways in which gender identity is discussed and expressed within different segments of the online far-right. We investigate the #tradwives movement - a social media trend used by far-right supporters to promote traditional gender roles, discuss its ideological roots, and consider the challenges for moderating such content.Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Ninian Frenguelli, a PhD candidate at Swansea University studying gender in the online extreme right.You can read a transcript of this episode here.If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week’s episode focuses on Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K), a regional affiliate of Islamic State primarily active in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We discuss the group in the context of the Taliban takeover two years ago, assessing the threat posed by the group to the region and to the West. We also focus on IS-K’s online activity and the increasingly prominent role the affiliate plays in IS propaganda, recruitment, and operational output.Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to two members of the Tech Against Terrorism Open Source-Intelligence (OSINT) team: Arthur Bradley, the OSINT Manager with a background in security intelligence and specific expertise on terrorist propaganda, and Louise Meloy, an OSINT analyst who has previously worked for the EU Commission and NATO on security policy as well as in the private sector as an intel analyst. TAT analysis: After the Taliban Takeover: How Islamic State-Khorasan Are Exploiting the Online Ecosystem and Projecting the ThreatYou can read a transcript of this episode here. If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we're discussing the unique psychological risks that exist for those working in the field of online counterterrorism. We provide practical guidance for identifying, understanding and combating trauma and other mental health issues associated with exposure to terrorist material, and explore the roles and responsibilities of both practitioner and organisation in mitigating these impacts to welfare.Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Stevie Voogt, Director of People & Culture at Moonshot, a social enterprise working to end online harms. And Fiona Dunkley, a consultant senior psychotherapist, author and founder of FD Consultants, a network of trauma specialist therapists offering psychosocial support to people exposed to traumatic material in their work.You can read a transcript of this episode here. Resources:Strategies for Researchers Analysing Terrorist and Violent Extremist Content (TVEC)Resource list on researcher welfareProtecting Your Mental Health: Vicarious Trauma SupportExposure to Traumatic Material: 3 Stages of SupportProtecting Staff from Vicarious Trauma If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter @techvsterrorism, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we're investigating the online activity of Islamic State (IS), an Islamist terrorist organisation renowned for its highly sophisticated media strategy and exploitation of the internet to disseminate its propaganda and recruit members. We'll be examining how IS and its supporter networks have evolved in their use of the internet, what platforms and technologies they exploit, and the techniques they use to avoid tech platform moderation. We’ll also touch on the work being carried out by Tech Against Terrorism to monitor and combat the group’s online activities.Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Meili Criezis, a Graduate Fellow at the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL), and Raphael Gluck, Co-Founder of JihadOScope, an organisation that monitors Jihadist activity across the internet.You can read a transcript of this episode here. You can find Tech Against Terrorism’s ‘State of Play: Trends in Terrorist and Violent Extremist Use of the Internet 2022’ report here. If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter @techvsterrorism, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we’re investigating the use of podcasts by extremist actors, a growing and concerning trend, which, over the last decade or so, has seen extremists leveraging this medium to spread their ideology, recruit followers and network with like minded individuals. Our expert guests expose how extremist groups and networks on the far-right have created an alternative media ecosystem that is reinforcing and normalising hateful ideologies, fringe ideas, and conspiratorial narratives. We also discuss how the ease of creating and distributing audio content has allowed these actors to regularly produce content that reaches a global audience and the challenges in moderating this content.Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Dr Megan Squire, Deputy Director for Data Analytics and OSINT (open source intelligence) at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and Bjørn Ihler, co-founder and CEO of Glitterpill and Director of the Khalifa Ihler Institute, a global peacebuilding foundation.You can read a transcript of this episode here.  If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter @techvsterrorism, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we’re exploring the role of the internet in the mainstreaming of radical ideas, which are increasingly infiltrating politics and popular culture. We also get a deeper insight into online extremist communities to understand what’s driving these ideas and how radicalisation is occurring.Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Dr Julia Ebner, a Senior Resident Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), specialising in far-right extremism, reciprocal radicalisation, conspiracy myths and terrorism prevention. Julia is an award-winning and best-selling author of several books including:The Rage: The Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far-Right ExtremismGoing Dark: The Secret Social Lives of ExtremistsGoing Mainstream: How Extremists are Taking OverYou can read a transcript of this episode here.  If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter @techvsterrorism, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we’re diving deeper into the nexus between gaming and extremism, exploring how gaming culture, storylines and symbols are being appropriated by extremist actors, and unpacking the concept of ‘identity fusion’: the phenomenon whereby players emotionally and psychologically merge their real-life identity with that of their in-game avatar or character. Our guests also discuss how the growing immersiveness of online games and the increasingly blurred line between reality and virtual reality might impact radicalisation processes, and touch on how stakeholders can get ahead of this threat.Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Dr Rachel Kowert, a research psychologist and Research Director of gaming and mental health organisation Take This, and Dr Ashton Kingdon, a lecturer of Criminology at the University of Southampton. You can read a transcript of this episode here.To find out more about the Extremism and Gaming Research Network (EGRN), visit https://extremismandgaming.org/.If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter @techvsterrorism, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we’re exploring the interaction between gaming and extremism.  We discuss the growing misuse of gaming platforms by extremist actors and consider why gaming communities are at risk of fostering concerning attitudes towards misogyny, racism, and even violent extremism. We address the threat to children and young people, the challenges and opportunities for policymakers, gaming companies and other stakeholders, and finally, what the future of gaming could mean in the context of extremism.Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Dr Jessica White, a Senior Research Fellow in RUSI’s Terrorism and Conflict group, and Galen Lamphere-Englund, a Violent Extremism and Strategic Communications Researcher and Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).You can read a transcript of this episode here.  To find out more about the Extremism and Gaming Research Network (EGRN), visit https://extremismandgaming.org/.If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter @techvsterrorism, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we’re exploring Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or the Pakistani Taliban - an Islamist terrorist organisation known for its violent activities and ideological alignment with the Afghan Taliban.  In the episode, we discuss TTP’s evolution, its recent resurgence, and how it’s using propaganda to further its strategic goals. We’ll also unpack TTP’s online activities and how its official media arm has significantly enhanced its operations since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, playing an important role in the group’s resurgenceJoin Anne Craanen as she speaks to Dr Amira Jadoon, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Clemson University, and Dr Antonio Giustozzi, a Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services InstituteYou can read a transcript of this episode here.Tech Against Terrorism’s Terrorist Content Analytics Platform (TCAP) has recently added TTP to its Inclusion Policy, alerting its official content to tech platforms. You can find our blog explaining the reasons why here.If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter, where you can find resources on this topic. 

This week, we’re discussing the rapidly evolving phenomenon of deepfakes powered by generative AI technology. We explore how deepfakes are being manipulated for malign purposes, including by terrorist and violent extremist actors. And we consider how this threat might develop as technology improves and what this means for terrorist propaganda, online disinformation, and global security. We also ask what tech platforms, the media and policymakers should be doing to get ahead of this threat.  Join Anne Craanen as she speaks to Daniel Byman, Senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. And Chris Meserole, Director of the Brookings Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative and a fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution. You can read a transcript of this episode here. If you want to find out more about Tech Against Terrorism and our work, visit techagainstterrorism.org or follow us on Twitter @techvsterrorism, where you can find resources on this topic.