Countering the Spread of Radicalism and Violent Extremism in Cyberspace

As technology has become more advanced, the role of cyberspace as a decentralised global communication platform for social networks to facilitate information flows has also become more essential. While social media platforms could, in essence, make people stay connected with one another and more feasibly acquire access to information, they have continuously been leveraged by terrorist groups and networks to as avenues to proliferate their missions, which include the processes of radicalisation, recruitment, funding, planning, and execution of terrorist activities.[1] The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), for example, leveraged social media to convey its propagandist messages by spreading numerous videos of people being executed. The advent of social media platforms themselves has enabled the acceleration of the dissemination of extremist ideas as it is definitely easier to find out support for almost any group, idea, or cause, as well as enabling recruitment attempts without having to engage in any physical communication. The multiplication and generation of accounts could also be done feasibly and quickly as they are free and easy to be used, which makes the internet prone to further dissemination of radical and extremist ideas or beliefs.[2] This article will dissect further into the urgency of containing the spread of radical and extremist influence in cyberspace, as well as how those could be tackled through top-down and bottom-up approaches.

The Urgency of Countering the Spread of Radicalism and Violent Extremism in Cyberspace

With the increasing use of social media in carrying out radicalisation attempts, identifying the most susceptible group(s) to the internalisation of extremist ideas or beliefs is therefore important to find appropriate measures to deal with the issue. Youth, in this case, has become the most prone group to radicalisation to date since young people are in the period of “making sense of the world” by drawing themselves to extremist ideas in the first place.[3] Aggravated by the rising popularity of social media in this digital age, it would be more likely for them to be exposed to and influenced by the dissemination of digital contents by terrorist groups. This statement could be further supported by a study that suggests how young Indonesian Muslims who use the internet tend to be more intolerant and radical than those who rarely use the internet.[4] To further reiterate the danger of social media platforms as avenues that could easily target young people to be radicalised and recruited by terrorist groups, the promotion of violence is frequently embodied in the form of pop culture (e.g. online video games, cartoons, music videos, etc) that glorifies the act of terrorism, which could attract more individuals to be recruited.[5] It is not to mention how practical guides for training new recruits are disseminated in the form of online multimedia, such as audio and video clips. The financing attempt is also frequently done online both through legal means (e.g. directly collecting donations or opening online stores) and illicit means (e.g. theft and fraud in online payment facilities).[6] Stealth, on top of that, becomes the most important advantage that the internet could endow to incite terrorist activities to have confidential communication among terrorists in order to avoid surveillance, such as through “dead dropping” and steganography.[7] As a highly potential platform for the conduct of terrorist activities, the feasibility of using and the absence of charge are therefore unquestionable as the major causes of their incitement on the internet.

Then, What’s Next?

While the internet could serve as an ideal avenue for radicalisation, recruitment, funding, and communication of terrorist organisations, it should be noted that governments, private entities, and the civil society have an equally important role in containing the online proliferation of such ideas or beliefs to be further disseminated and adopted. Aside from merely relying upon the authority of national governments to carry out counterterrorism operations, it could be seen how tech companies have voluntarily mobilised themselves to contain terrorist activities on the internet. For example, in 2018, Facebook massively took down 14.3 million contents related to jihadi terrorist groups voluntarily.[8] Henceforth, it is important for counterterrorism experts to not only formulate measures specifically addressed to governments, but also social media companies, which have different policy-making and operation methods compared to that of governments – to foster transparency and accountability. On the other hand, in terms of bottom-up approach, it is important to prioritise the development of educational initiatives to prevent vulnerable groups from succumbing to radical and extremist ideas on the internet as it is believed that the perceptions of injustice and marginalisation play a significant role in inciting individuals to extremist acts.[9] However, the research on how social media could significantly contribute to the development of educational programmes supporting counter-radicalisation interventions has not been adequately conducted yet.[10] By taking into consideration the aforementioned correlation between the internet and the incitement of terrorist acts, every relevant actor should work hand in hand to address the spread of radical and extremist ideas in cyberspace by developing countermeasures on social media platforms to prevent further incitement to occur.

Author: Felice Valeria (Research Assistant at CfDS)
Editor: Amelinda Pandu Kusumanningtyas (Project Officer of Research CfDS)

Read another articles written by Felice Valeria

[1] International Criminal Police Organization. n.d. Analysing Social Media. [online] Available at: [Accessed 7 May 2020].

[2] Bieda, D. and Halawi, L., 2015. Cyberspace: A Venue for Terrorism. Issues in Information Systems, 16(3), pp.33-42.

[3] Malik, N., 2020. Here’s Why Young People are Particularly Vulnerable to Radicalization. [online] Forbes. Available at: [Accessed 7 May 2020].

[4] Arbi, I., 2019. Internet Contributes to Radicalism among Young RI Muslims: Study. [online] The Jakarta Post. Available at: [Accessed 7 May 2020].

[5] 2012. The Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes. Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

[6] Ibid.,

[7] Kaplan, E., 2009. Terrorists and the Internet. [online] Council on Foreign Relations. Available at: [Accessed 7 May 2020].

[8] Fishman, B., 2019. Crossroads: Counter-terrorism and the Internet. Texas National Security Review, 2(2), pp.83-100.

[9] Silva, S., 2017. Role of Education in the Prevention of Violent Extremism. The World Bank.

[10] Ibid.,