Online radicalization recruits people by speaking persuasively to their personal anxieties

Evidence

Caleb explained that he had never heard someone address the issues he felt young men face in such a persuasive manner before. He started following other YouTube recommendations, and the many extremist online personalities he came into contact with addressed all the right anxieties he was experiencing about the world. He discovered a whole universe of like-minded people. His very own echo chamber. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 384

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Automated recommendation feeds can expose teenagers to thousands of radicalizing videos — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 381; Personal crises precede and open receptivity to religious radicalization — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 327; Social media’s inward self-focus co-opts radical politics into personal reform — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 724 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Personal crises precede and open receptivity to religious radicalization #expands (0.85) — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 327
• Conspiracy movements recruit across divergent groups by serving different emotional needs #expands (0.80) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 271
• A trusted friend’s offer of belonging can initiate the radicalization pathway #expands (0.80)
• Social media’s inward self-focus co-opts radical politics into personal reform #complicates (0.75) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 724
• Perceived exclusion and injustice prime society-wide breeding grounds for radicalization #expands (0.72) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 716