Terrorism

#134: ISIS Radicalization, Counter-Extremism, and Visual Propaganda on Social Media, with Dr. Tamar Mitts

October 24, 2021 Academics

Dr. Tamar Mitts, Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, shares her research on ISIS radicalization and it’s relationship to social isolation, anti-Muslim sentiment, and counter-extremism programs. We discuss Dr. Mitts’ Twitter dataset that uses spatial algorithms to identify ISIS sympathizers’ locations and machine learning to identify pro-ISIS sentiment. Toward the end of the episode, we discuss how computer vision tools such as Amazon’s Rekognition API can be used to detect violent imagery in ISIS propaganda. 


Here are the studies we discuss in the episode: 


From Isolation to Radicalization: Anti-Muslim Hostility and Support for ISIS in the West  (2019)

Countering Violent Extremism and Radical Rhetoric (2021)

Studying the Impact of ISIS Propaganda Campaigns (Forthcoming)

#32: Radicalization and Foreign Fighters: The Story of Lukas, with Karolina Dam

August 6, 2017 Civil Society

Karolina Dam, founder of the NGO Sons and Daughters of the World, joins the podcast this week to tell the story of her son, Lukas. Lukas is a Danish citizen who became radicalized in Copenhagen, fled to Syria, and joined ISIS. We discuss how Facebook groups are used to recruit potential terrorists, the role that social media can play in deradicalization, and the types of communication that take place between a foreign fighter and his mother.