Terrorist Online Radicalization and Its Effects on European Union Counterterrorism Policies

Abstract

This paper discusses the question of how the use of social media by terrorist organizations for radicalization has impacted the European Union’s (EU) counterterrorism policies and efforts. Today, the internet is accessible to virtually everyone on the globe, including terrorists. This puts more vulnerable people at risk of being exposed to terrorist content. Evaluating how the European Union is combating this risk and protecting its citizens is important. Other countries can also evaluate the EU’s online counter-terrorism policies to implement and change their own, based on the successes or failures of EU counter-terrorism policies. This study addresses key variables, including online radicalization and new counterterrorism policies in the EU. Qualitative research methods were used to find what content terrorists were publishing on the internet. These methods were also used to find how the EU is implementing the internet into its counterterrorism methods. The study revealed that as radicalization on the internet has increased, the EU has executed more online measures in its counterterrorism policies.