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Comment by naasking | Hacker News Reader

There is little evidence that radicalization happens online [1]. It seems to require in-person contact to really take root.

[1] https://www.rand.org/randeurope/research/projects/internet-a...

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This “study” has been proven to be obviously and demonstrably incorrect in the years since it was published. The authors should retract.

source?

Have you read the conclusions of the study? Do they comport with events of the past 5 years? Not at all

If you are going to claim a study is bunk then link another study proving it. empty statements like that prove nothing. that's not science.

This study was not really science. They interviewed a few people and then applied their own qualitative analysis to conclude that people cannot be self radicalized fully online. Since they published the study, there have been several major terrorist attacks perpetrated by individuals fully radicalized online.

I see. Your source is moral panicking in the news and journalists psychic ability to determine that dangerous radicalism is on the rise without ever bothering with any sort of data collection. Who could argue with that?

I promise you from personal experience, radicalization does happen online too.

I'd like to recommend this podcast about online radicalization, produced by the NYTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/column/rabbit-hole

That research was published by a libertarian think tank in 2013. Since then, there have been numerous examples of lone wolf terrorist attacks where the perpetrators appeared to have no offline contacts with extremist groups. See: New Zealand shooting, Pittsburgh shooting, etc.

There were also lone wolf mass shootings before the internet, so what does this prove?

That radicalisation does not exclusively happen face to face and that it can be conducted on line, by newsletter, by book, by carrier pigeon.

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