A professor of computer science, Squire offered insight into how violent extremists are shifting to new platforms as efforts to crack down on their activities ramp up.
A recent report from the Wall Street Journal about how mass shooters are using online platforms to share messages of hate includes insights from Megan Squire, professor of computer science and an expert on online extremism.
The Sept. 4 article by reporters Georgia Wells and Ian Lovett titled ” ‘So What’s His Kill Count?’: The Toxic Online World Where Mass Shooters Thrive” focused on how suspects in recent attacks used forums such as 8chan. The article notes that “mass shooters are revered on the forums, which brim with racist and antigay content,” and that users are quick to shift to new platforms amid efforts to crack down on these forums.
Squire told the reporters that some users are migrating to other sites or to encrypted chat apps where they are finding online communities that are just as robust as the ones they left. “They are following ISIS,” Squire said. “They are under the same pressure to avoid detection.”
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