Violent extremist movements do not operate only in the shadows and in secrecy - they thrive increasingly in online spaces. Social networks, algorithms and memes can turn fringe ideas into mainstream narratives. These ideas are just some of the seeds that lead to targeted violence.
Mass shootings have ticked up, among them a tragedy at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015; to a Walmart in El Paso, Texas in 2019; to a nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2022 and all the way to today’s climate of political violence.
Researchers around the country have been dedicated to examining the connection between online hate speech and hate-fueled targeted violence.
More recently, experts warn of rising youth online radicalization. Platforms such as Discord have drawn recent criticism as spaces extremists now use to recruit American youth.
Meanwhile, arguments have risen over which side of the political spectrum is responsible for acts of targeted violence — and how the government responds. Just this month, reports of the Department of Justice removing a study on its website that found the "number of far-right attacks" outpaces "all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism" made headlines in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. President Trump points the finger at the “radical left” amid an uptick in political violence.
We examine how extreme ideologies spread online, why young people are increasingly recruited into violent ideology and what’s being done to push back.
GUESTS:
Lydia Bates, program manager of partnerships at the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project
Pasha Dashtgard, Ph.D., director of research at the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL)
Jon Lewis, research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University
