This Insight explores the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a tool in the fight against terrorism, particularly jihadist terrorism. While AI is often seen as a weapon for terrorists – whether for propaganda or the manufacturing of explosive devices – it is rarely viewed as a tool for counterterrorism. However, some companies have developed AI-based technological solutions to combat […]
On a busy London street in broad daylight, a heavyset man walking down a sidewalk brandished a knife and started slashing two Jewish men near a bus station until local security and police tackled him to the ground. The attack happened on 29 April in the predominantly Jewish suburb of Golders Green — the same North London neighbourhood that saw […]
Popular social media platforms have become central to Islamists’ ability to reach mainstream audiences, particularly youth. As these actors continue to adapt to content moderation efforts, it is essential to understand how ostensibly neutral search behaviours can inadvertently steer users toward extremist content online. A 2025 study found that when searching for general terms like ‘Islam’ on…
Over the last few years, a clear and troubling pattern has crystallised: where the state fails to manage water and energy scarcity, violent non-state actors step in. Although the link between climate stress and violence is mediated by pre-existing socio-economic fragilities (climate as a threat multiplier), a deeper structural shift is now underway. This is particularly evident across the Sahel…
On Indonesian TikTok, figures associated with past Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist attacks are quietly reentering public view, not through active news coverage or historical documentaries, but through short, stylised video edits designed for entertainment. Indonesia offers a particularly revealing case study for observing this trend, given its TikTok user base of roughly 100 million adult users…
On 4 March 2026, the Cyber Jihad Movement (CJM) issued a communiqué on its official Signal channel announcing its “entrance into the Iranian-American war and the Afghanistan-Pakistan war”, marking a significant inflexion point in al-Qaeda’s cyber strategy. Issued just days after the United States and Israel launched Operation “Epic Fury” and Operation “Roaring Lion” on 28 February 2026, – strikes…
This Insight examines how extremist aesthetics and narratives inspired by jihadist groups are produced, circulated, and normalised within digital communities hosted on Discord. This platform is primarily designed as a communication space for gaming and social interaction. However, its structural features (including semi-private servers, flexible communication tools, and low barriers to entry)…
New and unique online platforms are seemingly constantly cropping up, often ripe for extremist exploitation even if moderation policies are in place. One platform, Viggle AI, launched in March 2024 and already boasts over 40 million users, with a rapid rise among both legitimate and malicious users. While monitoring three different online extremist ecosystems – extreme right, True Crime Community…
The US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, generated a short but intense disruption in the online information space, followed by sustained narrative competition involving both state and non-state actors. Across popular, fringe, and encrypted channels, terrorist and violent extremist (TVE) networks embedded content into existing narratives claiming global…