Research on Radicalism in Social Media and Radical Websites

The focus of this research is on:
1) The popularity of Muslim-organisation websites among internet surfers;
2) Responses on websites to radicalism issues;
3) Responses on social media to radicalism issues; and,
4) Background to and motivation behind the production and spread of radical messages.

The methodology used on this research is as follows: Digital survey using a web-mining/web-scraping technique on 14 Muslim-organisation sites since January 1, 2016 to October 20, 2017; web-mining on social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) that were found creating radical messages; interviews toward staff of Muslim organisation websites, social media users; and FGD with stakeholders consisting of academicians, religious leaders, government officials, entrepreneurs, Muslim mass-organisations, and media. The research findings can be summed up as follows: Most Islamic organisation websites popular among internet users are non-affiliated Islamic organisation websites; In responding to radical phenomenon in the society, Islamic organisation websites have different stances; and the motivations of social media users in creating, distributing, and consuming radical contents are: (1) wanting to make their social media accounts as a media to criticise government; (2) wanting to make their social media accounts to stop hoaxes or news that are not necessarily true; (3) wanting to make their social media accounts as da’wah media.

Geographical Scope: National

Region: UNDP Asia and the Pacific

Country: Indonesia

Theme of Research: Education Faith-based

Year Published: 2018

Responsible Entity: UNDP Indonesia