From Guardian article--copied and pasted.

The radicalization of being online

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/17/charlie-kirk-suspect-online-memes?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Instead of trying to find precise meaning in the irony soaked, trolling messages that attackers have left behind, extremism researchers argue that it’s often more useful to look at how online mediums are broadly shaping radicalization. In fact, some say that the current era of political violence differs from past incarnations specifically because of the way that social media and online communities have influenced and incentivized attackers.

Although technological influences are only one part of rising political violence – along with mental health issues, political polarization and the widespread availability of firearms in the US – extremism researchers are increasingly studying the evolving ways that social media platforms and online spaces can radicalize and isolate users.

In a 2023 paper for George Washington University’s Project on Extremism, Jacob Ware, a researcher described what he called a “third generation of online radicalization” that emerged in the late 2010s. Some of its characteristics include how meme culture helps radicalize and normalize attacks, as well as how precise ideology or affiliation with an organization becomes less important than lone acts of violence. The online culture around violence and extremism ends up blurring traditional lines of terrorism, Ware argues, as well as encourages making performative content to go along with attacks.

“Global grievances are acted upon with great fury in very local contexts – and yet, the main audience is often online,” Ware writes.

The growth of social media and erosion of previous gatekeepers have also left it unclear how to counter the spread of online radicalization, especially given social media platforms’ shift towards shirking responsibility for hosting violent and extreme content. What was once the generally accepted policy among media outlets and platforms to not share attackers’ manifestos, part of a public health argument from researchers to avoid copycats, has degraded as social media has given way to amateur sleuths posting every element of someone’s digital footprint for clues. And as messages and memes from attackers spread more easily, they also in turn generate more posts riffing on the violence and turning it into content. It is a particularly dark function of an industry that has built its growth through algorithmically pushing politically divisive and extremist content.

The result is that while online culture has enmeshed itself into extremism and political violence, previously secluded parts of the extremist internet culture have increasingly infected the everyday internet. The use of ironic humour connected to violence and extremism is not unique to the digital age – an essay from 1944 once discussed how antisemites amused themselves with flippant hateful statements – but it has become an incredibly pervasive part of the online experience. Ideologies and memes that would have once been relegated to obscure comment boards and extremist websites are now essentially the native tongue of the internet and distributed through mainstream social media platforms.

Kirk himself was a product of this online world, best known for viral clips of his combative, debate-style exchanges that social media users across the political spectrum shared to either champion or mock him.

Videos of Kirk’s killing have since fed into the same online spaces and content machine where he was once ubiquitous, sometimes autoplaying on X without warning viewers. Reactions to his death have become part of the same content mill, with video essays claiming to explain the killing and AI-generated tributes depicting him in heaven proliferating online. An aspiring influencer who was attending the event where Kirk was shot even attempted to immediately farm the killing for content, posting a video of himself promoting his social media channels during the chaos.

“Make sure you subscribe!” the TikToker, who later deleted the video, said while flashing a peace sign as attendees around him screamed and fled.