Extremist content online increased during coronavirus lockdowns

LONDON: Extreme Islamist and far-right content on social media increased markedly during the COVID-19 lockdown period between April and July this year, according to the 2020 Global Terrorism Index.

“It should be no surprise … to see extremists of all stripes, including far-right and jihadist groups, opportunistically using the ongoing pandemic to advance their movements and ideologies,” Milo Comerford of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) wrote in the report, which is published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace.