Finding a Place - Online Youth Recruitment by Extremists
24/07/22 13:42
The intensity with which health authorities and governments confronted the COVID-19 pandemic provided extremist groups an opportunity to reach out and find new supporters.
At the onset of the pandemic, fear of the virus created huge public expectations of action by authorities and acceptance of public health mandates.
The public health response affected how we worked – or whether we worked – isolated us from our social circles, closed our favorite restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, and forced us to wear masks when we did go out.
However, ongoing restrictions grew wearisome, and vaccination mandates came under attack as heavy-handed and far-reaching – unfairly restricting freedom of choice.
People with grievances and looking for someone to blame now found supportive voices online among right-wing extremists who saw their opportunity to extend their agendas to new people.
Disinformation started spreading, claiming vaccines were developed too quickly, contained dangerous genetic material, and produced deadly side effects; governments, powerful corporations, social élites, and others were using the pandemic to expand control over people.
The pandemic opened up a new world of opportunity for hate groups.
Hazel Woodrow of the Canadian Anti-hate Network says a risk created by the COVID-19 pandemic was the isolation of young people as they took lessons online and spent many hours socializing on the Internet.
“It's very easy to spend 12 hours in a day and not encounter a single other person who challenges any kind of new belief that you are becoming consumed by.”
Woodrow says the pandemic and the simultaneous rise in online hate, and promotion of hate generally is now seen as a syndemic, a term used to describe the interplay between extremist agendas and the pandemic.
She says far-right actors took advantage of the pandemic isolation to recruit new people through their anxieties, grief, and loss, providing them with simple solutions and scapegoating.
Organizations that monitor hate groups, along with leaders of spy agencies in Canada and Britain, and the US Department of Homeland Security, are warning that youth are increasingly being radicalized by right-wing extremism.
There is an intoxicating mix of anti-Islam, hatred of 'others', attacks on women's rights, dismissal of progressive viewpoints and laws, and promotion of white supremacist views and replacement or white genocide theory.
In 2020, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue identified 6,660 right-wing extremist channels, pages, groups, and accounts on 7 social media platforms in Canada, and found that “Canadians are highly active on forums associated with white supremacy, representing the third largest nationality using 4chan’s politically incorrect board after the US and UK, and were the third largest community.”
Speaking to the Centre for International Governance Innovation in February of 2021, CSIS Director David Vigneault warned of the “continued use of online platforms by violent extremists to recruit others and to spread their hateful messaging, anti-authority narratives, and conspiracy theories about the pandemic to rationalize and justify violence.”
The internet is now the dominant source of news for young people.
Statistics Canada reports that 98 per cent of youth are online every day, relying on it for news and current affairs.
In addition, StatsCan has found that 16 percent of young men and 12 percent of young women reported experiencing at least one aspect of social isolation.
Woodrow says extremists target young whites who feel they don't fit into society.
She says what attracts these young people tends to be content that exploits normal developmental conditions and experiences of young people.
“Having identity issues, having a longing for meaningful group membership, and belonging to 'people like me' and 'people who will look out for me.'”
She says the content that exploits those feelings and offers overly-simplistic answers, validates feelings of persecution such as 'the world is against them' or 'no one understands them,' and uses scapegoating of people or groups.
Woodrow says the message is often: “yes, you are right, and the reason is because you are a white boy and that's the reason why people are against you and nobody likes you and you can't get into your first choice of university, or something like that,” suggesting problems can be blamed on someone else.
She says it's an enticing factor, and from there, different variations on hate promotion by white supremacist fascist groups are available for youth to get involved in.
Woodrow says a new development they are witnessing is that extremists now encourage youth to “hide your power level, which comes from video game culture. ”
She explains the message is, “don't be inflammatory and be more mainstream,” to avoid coming out with statements saying the holocaust never happened, or similar rhetoric.
This strategy promotes a stealthy approach to attracting other youth.
Woodrow says one fear among extremists is the transition toward equity, which is seen as a threat to the influence and power white males have traditionally held.
Recruitment now often has a softer edge, starting with less controversial issues such as the removal of statues of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, over his role in creating Residential Schools.
Woodrow says it's framed as “they're taking something from us, they want to erase our history,” and is an example of hiding their power level to appeal to a broader white audience.
“Just beneath the surface of that is genocide denial, Residential School genocide denial, and great replacement theory, and like all kinds of much more nefarious stuff.”
She says as they become immersed in online echo chambers they become isolated from alternative perspectives on these issues.
Woodrow says adolescents face targeted recruitment and grooming by these movements.
If parents fear children are being drawn in, Woodrow says to pay attention to what they talk about, “what do they bring up at the dinner table, asking them what are you seeing online, who are you talking to online, what did you learn today online,” and ask about their feelings.
She says to make yourself available as a safe person that a young person can talk to because a lot of groups and people that groom youth on the internet present themselves as being that safe or supportive adult.
Woodrow says youth-to-youth recruitment is also taking place.
She says other youths present themselves as an understanding person they can turn to, “we'll take care of you, your family won't take care of you,” which she notes is consistent with messaging used in sexual grooming.
Dealing with online sexual exploitation is something parents and educators may be more familiar with and could be a way to understand how to intervene in extremist recruitment.
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network now offers resources in what it calls a “tool kit” for parents, caregivers, and educators.
Woodrow says it's “anybody who cares and is invested in the well-being and thriving of young people” whether it's a piano teacher, librarian, or any supportive adult in a young person's life.
She says the tool kit explains some of the most common ideologies youth are becoming involved in and provides scenarios of the different ways youth involvement in white supremacy and hate can look like in school settings.
It offers recommendations for intervention by the various stakeholders to eliminate hate and white supremacy in school communities.
A report in 2017 by UNESCO, Youth and violent extremism on social media: mapping the research, found chatrooms are often places where radicalization deepens because they create a sense of community.
The UNESCO study says the Internet and social media play a role in spreading information and propaganda and reinforcing identification “through the creation of an environment of like-minded people constituted in opposition to an Other.”
However, actual violent radicalization requires “more complex processes, including more complex social-psychological processes and person-to-person communication in conjunction with other offline factors.”
The study warns that online radicalization of youth is a multi-faceted global phenomenon, and social media can be a strategic tool that could lead to violent behavior.
Cultural changes give traditional power holders in society the belief their privileges are disappearing.
When youth find a place they fit in, they may eventually take on the grievances this group has against others.
At the onset of the pandemic, fear of the virus created huge public expectations of action by authorities and acceptance of public health mandates.
The public health response affected how we worked – or whether we worked – isolated us from our social circles, closed our favorite restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, and forced us to wear masks when we did go out.
However, ongoing restrictions grew wearisome, and vaccination mandates came under attack as heavy-handed and far-reaching – unfairly restricting freedom of choice.
People with grievances and looking for someone to blame now found supportive voices online among right-wing extremists who saw their opportunity to extend their agendas to new people.
Disinformation started spreading, claiming vaccines were developed too quickly, contained dangerous genetic material, and produced deadly side effects; governments, powerful corporations, social élites, and others were using the pandemic to expand control over people.
The pandemic opened up a new world of opportunity for hate groups.
Hazel Woodrow of the Canadian Anti-hate Network says a risk created by the COVID-19 pandemic was the isolation of young people as they took lessons online and spent many hours socializing on the Internet.
“It's very easy to spend 12 hours in a day and not encounter a single other person who challenges any kind of new belief that you are becoming consumed by.”
Woodrow says the pandemic and the simultaneous rise in online hate, and promotion of hate generally is now seen as a syndemic, a term used to describe the interplay between extremist agendas and the pandemic.
She says far-right actors took advantage of the pandemic isolation to recruit new people through their anxieties, grief, and loss, providing them with simple solutions and scapegoating.
Organizations that monitor hate groups, along with leaders of spy agencies in Canada and Britain, and the US Department of Homeland Security, are warning that youth are increasingly being radicalized by right-wing extremism.
There is an intoxicating mix of anti-Islam, hatred of 'others', attacks on women's rights, dismissal of progressive viewpoints and laws, and promotion of white supremacist views and replacement or white genocide theory.
In 2020, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue identified 6,660 right-wing extremist channels, pages, groups, and accounts on 7 social media platforms in Canada, and found that “Canadians are highly active on forums associated with white supremacy, representing the third largest nationality using 4chan’s politically incorrect board after the US and UK, and were the third largest community.”
Speaking to the Centre for International Governance Innovation in February of 2021, CSIS Director David Vigneault warned of the “continued use of online platforms by violent extremists to recruit others and to spread their hateful messaging, anti-authority narratives, and conspiracy theories about the pandemic to rationalize and justify violence.”
The internet is now the dominant source of news for young people.
Statistics Canada reports that 98 per cent of youth are online every day, relying on it for news and current affairs.
In addition, StatsCan has found that 16 percent of young men and 12 percent of young women reported experiencing at least one aspect of social isolation.
Woodrow says extremists target young whites who feel they don't fit into society.
She says what attracts these young people tends to be content that exploits normal developmental conditions and experiences of young people.
“Having identity issues, having a longing for meaningful group membership, and belonging to 'people like me' and 'people who will look out for me.'”
She says the content that exploits those feelings and offers overly-simplistic answers, validates feelings of persecution such as 'the world is against them' or 'no one understands them,' and uses scapegoating of people or groups.
Woodrow says the message is often: “yes, you are right, and the reason is because you are a white boy and that's the reason why people are against you and nobody likes you and you can't get into your first choice of university, or something like that,” suggesting problems can be blamed on someone else.
She says it's an enticing factor, and from there, different variations on hate promotion by white supremacist fascist groups are available for youth to get involved in.
Woodrow says a new development they are witnessing is that extremists now encourage youth to “hide your power level, which comes from video game culture. ”
She explains the message is, “don't be inflammatory and be more mainstream,” to avoid coming out with statements saying the holocaust never happened, or similar rhetoric.
This strategy promotes a stealthy approach to attracting other youth.
Woodrow says one fear among extremists is the transition toward equity, which is seen as a threat to the influence and power white males have traditionally held.
Recruitment now often has a softer edge, starting with less controversial issues such as the removal of statues of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, over his role in creating Residential Schools.
Woodrow says it's framed as “they're taking something from us, they want to erase our history,” and is an example of hiding their power level to appeal to a broader white audience.
“Just beneath the surface of that is genocide denial, Residential School genocide denial, and great replacement theory, and like all kinds of much more nefarious stuff.”
She says as they become immersed in online echo chambers they become isolated from alternative perspectives on these issues.
Woodrow says adolescents face targeted recruitment and grooming by these movements.
If parents fear children are being drawn in, Woodrow says to pay attention to what they talk about, “what do they bring up at the dinner table, asking them what are you seeing online, who are you talking to online, what did you learn today online,” and ask about their feelings.
She says to make yourself available as a safe person that a young person can talk to because a lot of groups and people that groom youth on the internet present themselves as being that safe or supportive adult.
Woodrow says youth-to-youth recruitment is also taking place.
She says other youths present themselves as an understanding person they can turn to, “we'll take care of you, your family won't take care of you,” which she notes is consistent with messaging used in sexual grooming.
Dealing with online sexual exploitation is something parents and educators may be more familiar with and could be a way to understand how to intervene in extremist recruitment.
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network now offers resources in what it calls a “tool kit” for parents, caregivers, and educators.
Woodrow says it's “anybody who cares and is invested in the well-being and thriving of young people” whether it's a piano teacher, librarian, or any supportive adult in a young person's life.
She says the tool kit explains some of the most common ideologies youth are becoming involved in and provides scenarios of the different ways youth involvement in white supremacy and hate can look like in school settings.
It offers recommendations for intervention by the various stakeholders to eliminate hate and white supremacy in school communities.
A report in 2017 by UNESCO, Youth and violent extremism on social media: mapping the research, found chatrooms are often places where radicalization deepens because they create a sense of community.
The UNESCO study says the Internet and social media play a role in spreading information and propaganda and reinforcing identification “through the creation of an environment of like-minded people constituted in opposition to an Other.”
However, actual violent radicalization requires “more complex processes, including more complex social-psychological processes and person-to-person communication in conjunction with other offline factors.”
The study warns that online radicalization of youth is a multi-faceted global phenomenon, and social media can be a strategic tool that could lead to violent behavior.
Cultural changes give traditional power holders in society the belief their privileges are disappearing.
When youth find a place they fit in, they may eventually take on the grievances this group has against others.