ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the integral relationship between radicalization and social media in general—how and why people get radicalized via social media and how the information age is “turbo-charging” the radicalization process. It discusses the role of social media both as a communication platform used by extremist groups for recruiting and radicalizing in general and as an effective tool playing a key role in the self-radicalization process. The process of radicalization is complicated and not completely understood, but it seems clear that it is very often a result of a combination of online and offline interactions. Telegram has public channels but it also has private “chats” where users can communicate with a number of other individuals simultaneously in a forum that offers end-to-end encryption. Radicalization is a process, a journey, but online propaganda and dialogue drastically lower the barriers and complications of recruiting would-be terrorists from far away.
