When Jihadi Ideology Meets Social Media

This book is designed to provide specialists, spectators, and students with a brief and engaging exploration of media usage by radical groups and the laws regulating these grey areas of Jihadi propaganda activities. The authors investigate the use of religion to advance political agendas and the legal challenges involved with balancing regulation with free speech rights. The project also examines the reasons behind the limited success of leading initiatives to curb the surge of online extreme speech, such as Google’s “Redirect Method” or the U.S. State Department’s campaign called “Think Again.” The volume concludes by outlining a number of promising technical approaches that can potently empower tech companies to reduce religious extremist groups’ presence and impact on social media.

1: Who Speaks for Islam? Extreme Religious Groups, the Exception that Proves the Rule.- 2: The Rise of Religious Extremism in the Middle East: A Triptych View?.- 3: Extreme Groups and the Militarization of Social Media.- 4: Extreme Groups Propaganda War under a Free Speech Lens: The Unwinnable Battle.- 5: Technology to the Rescue: A Software-Based Approach to Tackle Extreme Speech. 

Songhua Xu is Assistant Professor in the Information System department at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA.