Violent extremism in the online space: a sistematic review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63356/sin.2026.005Keywords:
Internet, computers, extremism, Cyber-VE, violent extremism, cyber extremismAbstract
The prevalence of the internet and the easy access to computers for a larger number of people have facilitated easier connection and networking among individuals with extremist views and ideologies, significantly facilitating the spread of extremist propaganda to thousands and thousands of potential followers. As early as 1985, five years before the term "World Wide Web" even emerged, right-wing supremacists in the United States established the internet platform "White Aryan Resistance," which functioned to spread propaganda, facilitate recruitment, and procure financial resources. The use of web forums, social networks, and internet platforms to support the organization of acts of violent extremism has significantly increased in recent years, leading to the establishment of the term Cyber-VE in literature and various scientific papers. Violent extremists utilize the internet and computers for the following purposes: spreading propaganda, recruiting new members, logistics and planning of violent acts, and fundraising for their extremist actions.
References
Abadie, A. (2006). Poverty, political freedom, and the roots of terrorism. American Economic Review, 96(2), 50–56. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/000282806777211847
Al Jazeera Balkans. (2023, 17. februar). Članovi Narodnih patrola osumnjičeni za pokušaj rušenja ustavnog poretka Srbije.https://balkans.aljazeera.net/news/balkan/2023/2/17/pripadnike-narodnih-patrola-srbijansko-tuzilastvo-sumnjici-za-pokusaj-rusenja-ustavnog-poretka
Aly, A. (2014). Walk away from violent extremism: A campaign to address violent extremism online. Journal Exit-Deutschland. Zeitschrift für Deradikalisierung und demokratische Kultur, 3, 64–77.
Babić, U. (2023). Preventivne mere u borbi protiv terorizma. Megatrend Review, 20(1), 219–229.
Blic.rs. (2019, 5. maj). Protest u Borči zbog dvoglavog orla. Blic. https://www.blic.rs/vesti/beograd/protest-u-borci-zbog-dvoglavog-orla-vlasnik-pekare-se- slikao-sa-simbolom-velike/h0nq4z3
Braddock, K., & Horgan, J. (2016). Towards a guide for constructing and disseminating counternarratives to reduce support for terrorism. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 39(5), 381–404. https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2015.1116277
Brkić Šmigoc, J., Mujagić, M., Šušnica, S., Haračić-Nović, I., & Zuković, A. (2019). Rad s pojedincima i porodicama koje su u riziku od radikalizacije ili su radikalizirane: Priručnik za stručnjake. Atlantska inicijativa.
Bucknell Bossen, C., & Kottasz, R. (2020). Uses and gratifications sought by pre-adolescent and adolescent TikTok consumers. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers, 21(4), 463–478. https://doi.org/10.1108/YC-07-2020-1186
Byung-hu, Y. (2017). Theoretical approach to radicalization and violent extremism that leads to terrorism. International Journal of Terrorism & National Security, 2(2), 12–18.
Conway, M. (2006). Terrorism and the Internet: New media—New threat? Parliamentary Affairs, 59(2), 283–298. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsl009
Djorić, M. R. (2012). Theoretical delimitation of extremism. Kultura Polisa, 9, 45–52.
Donelan, H. (2009). Online communication and collaboration: A reader. Routledge.
Duhandžija Ilić, Z. (2017). Bassam Tibi’s Euro-Islam. Sociološki pregled, 51(3), 446–456. https://doi.org/10.5937/socpreg51-15549
Dušanić, S. (2020). Mladi i ekstremizam. Perpetuum Mobile – Institut za razvoj mladih i zajednice; CARE Balkans.
Galant, M. (2020). Utjecaj društvenih mreža na psihičko zdravlje. Psychē: Časopis studenata psihologije, 3(1), 131–145.
Gambetta, D., & Hertog, S. (2018). Engineers of jihad: The curious connection between violent extremism and education. Princeton University Press.
Gaudette, T., Scrivens, R., & Venkatesh, V. (2020). The role of the internet in facilitating violent extremism: Insights from former right-wing extremists. Terrorism and Political Violence, 34(7), 1339–1356. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2020.1784147
Greenfield, S. (2018). Promjene uma. Školska knjiga.
Gunton, K. (2022). The impact of the internet and social media platforms on radicalisation to terrorism and violent extremism. In R. Montasari, F. Carroll, I. Mitchell, S. Hara, & R. Bolton-King (Eds.), Privacy, security and forensics in the Internet of Things (IoT) (pp. 167–177). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91218-5_8
Harpreet, S. D. (2013). Cybercrime—a threat to persons, property, government and societies. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering Research, 3(5), 415–419.
Harris-Hogan, S., Barrelle, K., & Zammit, A. (2016). What is countering violent extremism? Exploring CVE policy and practice in Australia. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 8(1), 6–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/19434472.2015.1104710
Hawdon, J., Bernatzky, C., & Costello, M. (2019). Cyber-routines, political attitudes, and exposure to violence-advocating online extremism. Social Forces, 98(1), 329–354. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soz010
Ilić, M., Spalević, P., Spalević, Ž., Veinović, M., & Aleja, K. S. A. (2017). Deep web i dark web – potreba ili zloupotreba. INFOTEH-JAHORINA, 16, 635–639.
Jayabalan, P., Ibrahim, R., & Manaf, A. A. (2014). Understanding cybercrime in Malaysia: An overview. Sains Humanika, 2(2), 109–115. https://doi.org/10.11113/sh.v2n2.424
Johnson, N. F., Zheng, M., Vorobyeva, Y., Gabriel, A., Qi, H., Velasquez, N., Manrique, P., Johnson, D., Restrepo, E., Song, C., & Wuchty, S. (2016). New online ecology of adversarial aggregates: ISIS and beyond. Science, 352(6292), 1459–1463. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf0675
Kapsokoli, E. (2023). Cyberterrorism: A new wave of terrorism or not? In Ferrag, M. A., Kantzavelou, I., Maglaras, L., & Janicke, H. (Eds.), Hybrid threats, cyberterrorism and cyberwarfare (pp. 57–81). CRC Press.
Krueger, A. B. (2008). What makes a terrorist: Economics and the roots of terrorism. Princeton University Press.
Lakomy, M. (2023). Why do online countering violent extremism strategies not work? The case of digital jihad. Terrorism and Political Violence, 35(6), 1261–1298. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2022.2038575
Lee, B. (2019). Countering violent extremism online: The experiences of informal counter messaging actors. Policy & Internet, 12(1), 66–87. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.210
Li, Y., Feiqiong, L., & Joseph, M. K. (2009). Discovering topics from dark websites. In 2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Cyber Security (pp. 175–179). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/CICYBS.2009.4925106
Moon, J. H., Lee, E., Lee, J. A., Choi, T. R., & Sung, Y. (2016). The role of narcissism in self-promotion on Instagram. Personality and Individual Differences, 101, 22–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.042
Mušić, S. (2016). Uloga obrazovanja u prevenciji nasilnog ekstremizma i radikalizma. In Changing reality through education (pp. 1–9).
Nadkarni, A., & Hofmann, S. G. (2012). Why do people use Facebook? Personality and Individual Differences, 52(3), 243–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.11.007
Neumann, P. R. (2013). The trouble with radicalization. International Affairs, 89(4), 873–893. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.12049
Overbey, L. A., McKoy, G., Gordon, J., & McKitrick, S. (2010, maj). Automated sensing and social network analysis in virtual worlds. In 2010 IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics (pp. 179–184). IEEE.
Pereža, D. (2017). Internet sigurnost i e-trgovina [Doktorska disertacija, Ekonomski fakultet Sveučilišta u Splitu].
Piwek, L., & Joinson, A. (2016). What do they Snapchat about? Patterns of use in time-limited instant messaging service. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 358–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.08.026
Radio Slobodna Evropa. (2019, 23. april). Nove pretnje vlasniku pekare u Borči zbog nacionalnosti. https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/pekara-borca-napadi-nacionalisti-/29910636.html
Radio Slobodna Evropa. (2023, 17. februar). Uhapšen lider „Narodne patrole“ nakon incidenata u Beogradu. https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/narodna-patrola-lider-uhapsen-beograd/32274208.html
Ramsay, G., Holbrook, D., & Taylor, M. (2013). “Terroristic content”: Towards a grading scale. Terrorism and Political Violence, 25(2), 202–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2011.653893
Rui, J., & Stefanone, M. A. (2013). Strategic self-presentation online: A cross-cultural study. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), 110–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.07.022
Sachan, A. (2012, jul). Countering terrorism through dark web analysis. In 2012 Third International Conference on Computing, Communication and Networking Technologies (ICCCNT) (pp. 1–5). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCCNT.2012.6396055
Salleh, N. M., Selamat, S. R., Saaya, Z., Ahmad, R., & Masúd, Z. (2016, novembar). A new taxonomy of cyber violent extremism (Cyber-VE) attack. In 2016 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technology for The Muslim World (ICT4M) (pp. 234–239). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICT4M.2016.055
Salleh, N. M., Selamat, S. R., Saaya, Z., Ahmad, R., & Masúd, Z. (2016). Identifying Cyber Violent Extremism (Cyber-VE) Components by Exploring Dark Web. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, 14(9), 52–59.
Šarac, D. (2022). Internet i društvene mreže kao platforme za radikalizaciju u nasilni ekstremizam [Magistarski rad, Univerzitet u Sarajevu].
Scanlon, J. R., & Gerber, M. S. (2014). Automatic detection of cyber-recruitment by violent extremists. Security Informatics, 3(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13388-014-0005-5
Scrivens, R., Osuna, A. I., Chermak, S. M., Whitney, M. A., & Frank, R. (2023). Examining online indicators of extremism in violent right-wing extremist forums. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 46(11), 2149–2173. https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2021.1913818
Sikimić, M., Lalić, V., & Ćeranić, P. (2019). The prevention of radicalization, violent extremism, and terrorism through the Republika Srpska education system. Journal of Security and Criminal Sciences, 1(2), 25–38.
Silber, M. D., & Bhatt, A. (2007). Radicalization in the West: The homegrown threat. New York Police Department Intelligence Division. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/public_information/NYPD_Report-Radicalization_in_the_West.pdf
Simeunović, D. (2009). Određenje ekstremizma iz ugla teorije politike. Srpska politička misao, 24(3), 11–26.
Smailhodžić, A., & Taljanović, A. (2022). Razvoj terorizma u Bosni i Hercegovini. Knowledge: International Journal, 53(1), 195–198.
Smith, L. (2023). Mainstreaming hate: An analysis of the rebranding of white supremacy (Publication No. 30489240) [Doktorska disertacija, Walden University]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
Stern, J. (2016). Radicalization to extremism and mobilization to violence: What have we learned and what can we do about it? The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 668(1), 102–117. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716216673807
Stockdale, L. A., & Coyne, S. M. (2020). Bored and online: Reasons for using social media, problematic social networking site use, and behavioral outcomes across the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Journal of Adolescence, 79, 173–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.01.010
Torok, R. (2010). “Make a bomb in your mum’s kitchen”: Cyber recruiting and socialisation of ‘White Moors’ and home grown jihadists. Perspectives on Terrorism, 4(2). https://ro.ecu.edu.au/act/6/
Vuković, S. (2022). The assessment of individual risk of radicalization and violent extremism. NBP. Nauka, bezbednost, policija, 27(1), 61–77. https://doi.org/10.5937/nabepo27-35664
Weimann, G. (2012). Lone wolves in cyberspace. Journal of Terrorism Research, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.15664/jtr.405
Winter, C., Neumann, P., Meleagrou-Hitchens, A., Ranstorp, M., Vidino, L., & Fürst, J. (2020). Online extremism: Research trends in internet activism, radicalization, and counter-strategies. International Journal of Conflict and Violence, 14, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.4119/ijcv-3809
