Abstract
The focus of this paper is on the extremist group Britain First. As such, it
does not explore online terrorist activity but rather examines how a group
regarded as extremist is subject to online sanctions.
The removal of the extremist group Britain First from Facebook in March
2018 successfully disrupted the group’s online activity, leading them to have
to start anew on Gab, a different and considerably smaller social media
platform. The removal also resulted in the group having to seek new online
followers from a much smaller, less diverse recruitment pool. This paper
demonstrates the further impact of the group’s platform migration on their
online strategy – particularly on their choice of images and the engagement
levels generated through them. The paper puts forward a number of key
recommendations, most importantly that social-media companies should
continue to censor and remove hateful content.
does not explore online terrorist activity but rather examines how a group
regarded as extremist is subject to online sanctions.
The removal of the extremist group Britain First from Facebook in March
2018 successfully disrupted the group’s online activity, leading them to have
to start anew on Gab, a different and considerably smaller social media
platform. The removal also resulted in the group having to seek new online
followers from a much smaller, less diverse recruitment pool. This paper
demonstrates the further impact of the group’s platform migration on their
online strategy – particularly on their choice of images and the engagement
levels generated through them. The paper puts forward a number of key
recommendations, most importantly that social-media companies should
continue to censor and remove hateful content.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | London |
| Publisher | Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Publication series
| Name | Global Research Network on Terrorism and Technology |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies |
| No. | 4 |