Online extremism

Online extremism refers to the use of digital platforms and communication technologies to promote, disseminate, and organise around violent, hateful, or extremist ideologies that reject pluralism or democratic norms. Online extremism spans across a range of ideologies – political, religious, racial, or conspiratorial – and thrives in the digital ecosystem due to its inherent characteristics, including its scalability, anonymity, and global reach. Unlike extremist activities offline, which are often limited by geography, personal contacts, and resource constraints, online extremism leverages the characteristics above to propagate ideologies and radicalise users. The nature of modern-day online platforms also exacerbate the problem given their ability to facilitate the algorithmic amplification of messages, various engagement functionalities, and encrypted group chats.