Radicalisation in the Digital Era: the Use of the Internet in 15 Cases Of
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Radicalisation in the digital era The use of the internet in 15 cases of terrorism and extremism Ines von Behr, Anaïs Reding, Charlie Edwards, Luke Gribbon EUROPE Radicalisation in the digital era The use of the internet in 15 cases of terrorism and extremism Ines Von Behr, Anaïs Reding, Charlie Edwards, Luke Gribbon RAND Europe is an independent, not-for-profit policy research organisation that aims to improve policy and decisionmaking for the public interest though research and analysis. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. R® is a registered trademark © Copyright 2013 RAND Corporation Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial pur- poses. Unauthorized posting of RAND documents to a non-RAND website is prohibited. RAND documents are protected under copyright law. For informa- tion on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND permissions page (www.rand.org/publications/permissions.html). RAND OFFICES SANTA MONICA, CA • WASHINGTON, DC PITTSBURGH, PA • NEW ORLEANS, LA • JACKSON, MS • BOSTON, MA DOHA, QA • CAMBRIDGE, UK • BRUSSELS, BE www.rand.org • www.rand.org/randeurope Preface We live in a digital era. In the UK alone 85 per cent of homes have internet access. As society increasingly embraces the internet, so opportunities for those wishing to use it for terrorism have grown. The internet offers terrorists and extremists the capability to communicate, collaborate and convince. In recent years, European policymakers, practitioners and the academic community have begun to examine how the internet influences the process of radicalisation: how a person comes to support terrorism and forms of extremism associated with terrorism. Many of the policy documents and academic literature in this area focus on online content and messaging, rather than exploring how the internet is used by individuals in the process of their radicalisation. The reason for this focus is relatively straightforward. Gaining access to terrorists (those convicted under UK terrorism legislation) or extremists (identified by the police and multi-agency partners based on an assessment of risk) is extremely difficult. Obtaining primary data relating to these individuals’ cases held in court records or by the police is labour-intensive and a logistical challenge. However, empirical research is needed in order to rigorously test assertions about radicalisation and formulate evidence based approaches to addressing challenges associated with radicalisation. In order to begin to address this gap and develop the evidence base in the field, this study is based on primary data drawn from a variety of sources: evidence presented at trial, computer registries of convicted terrorists, interviews with convicted terrorists and extremists, as well as police senior investigative officers responsible for terrorist investigations. The sample size is small: a symptom of both the limited number of individuals willing to speak with researchers in this field, and the challenge of collecting data on such a sensitive topic where information in the public domain is limited. RAND Europe is an independent not-for-profit policy research organisation that aims to improve policy and decision-making in the public interest, through research and analysis. RAND Europe’s clients include European governments, institutions, non-governmental organisations and firms with a need for rigorous, independent, multidisciplinary analysis. For more information about this project or RAND Europe please contact: Ines von Behr ([email protected]) RAND Europe RAND Europe Rue de la Loi 82 Westbrook Centre, Milton Road Brussels 1040 Cambridge CB4 1YG Belgium United Kingdom Tel. +32 2669 2400 Tel. +44 1223 353 329 iii Table of Contents Preface ......................................................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................... iv Figures ...................................................................................................................................................... vi Tables ...................................................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. viii Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................................... ix Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................. xi 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Report structure ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Defining what we mean by the internet, terrorism, extremism and radicalisation ....................... 2 1.3. The internet as a domain of activity for terrorist activities .......................................................... 3 1.4. Policy responses to online radicalisation ..................................................................................... 3 1.5. Terrorism, the role of the internet and policy responses in Europe beyond the UK .................... 6 1.6. The academic focus: limited evidence on online radicalisation ................................................... 8 1.7. Re-balancing approaches to online radicalisation: insights from collected cases .......................... 8 2. Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 11 2.1. Overview of the approach ........................................................................................................ 11 2.2. Literature review and stakeholder engagement ......................................................................... 12 2.3. Primary data collection ............................................................................................................ 12 2.4. Obstacles to data collection ...................................................................................................... 14 3. Literature review: current understanding of the role of the internet in radicalisation ............... 15 3.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 15 3.2. Five themes emerging from the literature review ...................................................................... 16 3.3. The internet creates more opportunities to become radicalised................................................. 17 3.4. The internet acts as an ‘echo chamber’ ..................................................................................... 18 3.5. The internet accelerates the process of radicalisation ................................................................ 19 3.6. The internet allows radicalisation to occur without physical contact ........................................ 19 iv 3.7. The internet increases opportunities for self-radicalisation ....................................................... 20 3.8. Research on interactions between the online and offline worlds is rare ..................................... 21 3.9. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 21 4. How 15