Why the Fight Against Online Extremism Keeps Failing

Flavius Niculescu

W hen we read about yet another shooting linked to online hate, or another violent network spreading across social media, the common refrain is that “social media platforms must do more.” Indeed, my own research in online extremism and content moderation shows that while content moderation takedowns have soared on major sites over the past several years, extremists still find plenty of digital spaces to recruit, organize, and call for violence. And so, perhaps the question we should be asking