DOJ funds study of ‘far right’ extremists online

The Justice Department has awarded Michigan State University a half million dollar grant to study how “far right” groups spread extremism online.

The $585,719 grant, which was praised by former Attorney General Eric Holder earlier this year, will examine how both the “far right” and Islamic extremist movement uses the Internet.

“There is currently limited knowledge of the role of technology and computer mediated communications (CMCs), such as Facebook and Twitter, in the dissemination of messages that promote extremist agendas and radicalize individuals to violence,” according to the grant. “The proposed study will address this gap through a series of qualitative and quantitative analyses of posts from various forms of CMC used by members of both the far-right and Islamic extremist movements.”

Curiously, a majority of its focus will be on the “far right,” according to The Washington Free Beacon.

“We will collect posts made in four active forums used by members of the far-right and three from the Islamic Extremist community, as well as posts made in Facebook, LiveJournal, Twitter, YouTube, and Pastebin accounts used by members of each movement,” the grant said.

Researchers say they hope to use the information collected to identify patterns in extremist social networking strategies.

“The findings will be used to document both the prevalence and variation in the ideological content of posts from members of each movement,” the grant said. “In addition, we will assess the value of these messages in the social status of the individual posting the message and the function of radical messages in the larger on-line identity of participants in extremist communities generally.”

Holder, during a White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism in February, said such research will help government officials “develop more effective techniques and partnerships for counter-messaging.”

The DOJ grant doesn’t specify what it considers a “far right” group in the U.S., but government officials have repeatedly expressed concerns about a growing sovereign citizen movement in the U.S. in recent years.

In February, CNN reported that “federal and local law enforcement groups view the domestic terror threat from sovereign citizen groups as equal to — and in some cases greater than — the threat from foreign Islamic terror groups, such as ISIS…”

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