https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7432-7370
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ABSTRACT
Researchers have previously explored how right-wing extremists build a collective identity online by targeting their perceived “threat,” but little is known about how this “us” versus “them” dynamic evolves over time. This study uses a sentiment analysis-based algorithm that adapts criminal career measures, as well as semi-parametric group-based modeling, to evaluate how users’ anti-Semitic, anti-Black, and anti-LGBTQ posting behaviors develop on a sub-forum of the most conspicuous white supremacy forum. The results highlight the extent to which authors target their key adversaries over time, as well as the applicability of a criminal career approach in measuring radical posting trajectories online.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Martin Bouchard, Pete Simi, Barbara Perry, Thomas Holt, Maura Conway, and Tiana Gaudette for their invaluable feedback on earlier versions of this article.
Notes
1 September 12, 2001 was simply the date in which the sub-forum went live on the Internet. To the best of our knowledge, based on our assessment of the first messages posted on the sub-forum, Stormfront Canada was not launched in response to the 9/11 terror attacks.
2 Words were drawn from the Racial Slur Database (http://www.rsdb.org), as well as an extensive list of racial slurs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs) and words targeting LGBTQs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LGBT_slang_terms). To identify discussions about Jews and Blacks, each list was developed by triangulating the first two lists outlined above. To identify discussions about LGBTQs, a list of words was developed by referring to the third list, simply because a second list – that was similar to list one – was not available. Plural and derivative words were included to the initial keyword lists, as the purpose was to sentimentize as many topic-relevant words as possible.
3 Each keyword was unique to each list, and there were no overlapping words across lists.
4 Here, we conducted two separate analyses: (1) for each of the three topics of discussion, each author’s radical scores were summed, and a comparison of radical scores for each topic revealed no significant correlation; (2) we calculated the number of instances that each author received a radical score throughout their posting careers, tallied them for each of the three topics, and then compared the values across the three topics. This too revealed no significant relationship.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Ryan Scrivens
Ryan Scrivens is a Horizon Postdoctoral Fellow at Concordia University, working with Project SOMEONE to build resilience against hatred and radicalization leading to violence, both on- and offline. He is also a visiting researcher at the VOX-Pol Network of Excellence, a research associate at the International CyberCrime Research Centre (ICCRC) at Simon Fraser University (SFU), and the Associate Theses Research Editor of Perspectives on Terrorism. His primary research interests include terrorists’ and extremists’ use of the Internet, countering violent extremism, right-wing extremism and terrorism, hate crime, and research methods and methodology. Ryan recently completed a Ph.D. in Criminology at SFU.
Garth Davies
Garth Davies is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and is the Associate Director of the Institute on Violence, Terrorism, and Security at SFU. His current work involves developing a database for evaluating programs for countering violent extremism; the social psychology of radicalization; and the statistical modeling and projection of violent right-wing extremism.
Richard Frank
Richard Frank is an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and Director of the International CyberCrime Research Centre (ICCRC). He is also Associate Editor-in-Chief of Security Informatics. Dr. Frank completed a PhD in Computing Science (2010) and another PhD in Criminology (2013) at SFU. His main research interest is Cybercrime. Specifically, he’s interested in hackers and security issues, such as online terrorism and warfare.