Defined as the vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy,
the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs,
extremism refers to an ideology considered to be outside the mainstream attitudes of society.
Radicalisation is a process where someone changes their perception and their beliefs to become more extremist.
Extremists use the online space to target and exploit vulnerable people, and to spread divisive propaganda and disinformation.
There are no typical indicators that point to a risk of radicalisation, but vulnerabilities are often exploited,
and those vulnerabilities would include aspects such as low self-esteem or social isolation, being a victim of bullying or discrimination, or confusion about faith or identity.
Equally radicalisation can be difficult to spot but indicators would include things like isolation from family and friends,
an unwillingness or inability to discuss their views, increased levels of anger, talking as if from a scripted speech,
and sudden disrespectful attitude towards others. And then increased secrecy, particularly around internet use.
Beyond radicalisation, online extremist narratives can stoke division and sow mistrust between communities,
which impacts on local cohesion and helps to fuel hate crimes and other forms of criminality.
So what does the research say?
The annual research from Hope not Hate includes that the pandemic has quickened the demise of many traditional far-right groups,
whilst younger more tech savvy activists have thrived, often using unmoderated platforms or gaming sites,
including a new extreme right-wing group called the National Partisan Movement,
which is an international Nazi group made up of 70 teenagers from 13 countries, and there are 8 members in the UK.
And whilst whilst this might seem like a low number, it's worth noting that activists on some platforms have a considerable number of followers.
And then furthermore, the Commission for Countering Extremism's study into how extremists exploited the pandemic,
shows that extremists use it to engage in disinformation to incite hatred and divide communities, creating conditions conducive for extremism.
Misinformation and disinformation are widespread online, often circulated via social media or YouTube videos and can cover every conceivable or inconceivable topic.
The terms misinformation and disinformation are generally quite similar and are often used interchangeably.
But there is an important distinction:
Misinformation refers to false or out of context information, which is presented as factual regardless of an intent to deceive.
Whereas disinformation is false information, where there is intent to deceive. In other words disinformation is deliberate.
It can sometimes be difficult to discern between what is true or false, misleading or an opinion, up-to-date or out-of-date information,
and even, particularly online where there can be a lack of emotional contact, if something is a joke or has malicious intent.
But the consequences can be varied, including mistrust, confusion, fear and bias,
which lead to political polarisation, which undermines democracy and much more.
The pandemic is a good example of the spread of mis and disinformation. But there are many other examples where sharing can be heightened.
For example, elections and not-quite-truths or bad actor interference, such as foreign states spreading disinformation by targeting particular groups on social media.
So what does the research say? It is impossible to know the scale of mis and and disinformation.
However, there are triggers such as elections and the pandemic which give a greater understanding.
For example, in week one of lockdown Ofcom reported nearly 50 per cent of people were seeing information online
which they thought to be false or misleading about the pandemic, with this figure almost 60 per cent for 18 to 36 year olds.
An analysis of the most viewed YouTube videos related to coronavirus found that over 25 per cent of the top videos contained misinformation, with views totalling 62 million.
In relation to children, misinformation and disinformation is commonplace,
often enacted through so-called online challenges or enticements such as gifts.
A relatively common example of this is the enticement of free in-game currency for example FIFA coins,
Robux used in the game Roblox, and V-Bucks found in the game Fortnite. These often circulate on YouTube and other social media channels,
where a link is shared for the child to enter their username and password details in order to receive the free gift.
However, this is phishing with a "ph", a means whereby a false link is used to deceive a person into revealing user credentials.