Radicalisation and Extremism on Social Media: What Steps can be taken?

Authors

Emeka Williams Etumnu, Department of Mass Communication Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria.Follow
Oluchi I. Williams-Etumnu, Department of Mass Communication Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria.Follow

Date of this Version

Winter 12-12-2023

Document Type

Article

Comments

This is an original article and has not been published elsewhere.

Abstract

Unarguably, the social media has brought the world together in an online space and as a result of this, extremist groups utilise the social media to radicalise people especially the youths who are vulnerable and fancy their ideology towards their cause. The paper was underpinned on public sphere theory and the desk research method was employed in the course of the study. It was revealed that social media plays a tremendous role towards radicalisation and extremism. The need for digital literacy, where rules can be made to assist individuals of all ages in developing critical thinking skills and building resilience to violent extremist and terrorist contents online, was one of the solutions suggested to stop it. Positive steps include developing tactics that aim to oppose extremist narratives and propaganda by creating counter-contents and planning tactics that can be used to restrict, filter, take-down, or censor extremist social media contents. It was concluded that radicalisation and extremism have been on a steady increase as a result of the ever present social media that has greatly contributed in the process of radicalisation and extremism. Even though some scholars argued that it is not only social media that is responsible for the rise there is no denying of the fact that social media plays a major role according to empirical findings towards radicalisation and extremism in our society today where most of the things we do revolve on the online space.