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1. (THREAD) So, it seems like the deplatforming debate is once again kicking off, so I thought I would introduce some of the earlier work that was done in this area back when ISIS was buck wild on social media. What have we learned over the last six years might be useful today:
2. One of the earliest studies that discussed the impact of suspensions of ISIS accounts was @intelwire and Morgan's piece: The ISIS Twitter Consensus.
They found that suspensions did have an impact on replies and retweets and overall dissemination. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/isis_twitter_census_berger_morgan.pdf
They found that suspensions did have an impact on replies and retweets and overall dissemination. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/isis_twitter_census_berger_morgan.pdf
3. After suspensions, the die-hard supporters dedicated themselves to creating new accounts, but others whittled away: “it appears the pace of account creation has lagged behind the pace of suspensions”
4. On the specific question of how suspensions impact the Twitter network, see this piece by @intelwire and @IntelGirl111, which explores how suspensions impact these groups, including major disruptions to dissemination and decline in follower count: https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/downloads/JMB%20Diminishing%20Returns.pdf
5. Another study by @Aud_Alexander similarly found that ISIS supporters were finding it hard to “gain traction” after Twitter took a harder stance on the group. https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/DigitalDecayFinal_0.pdf
6. Yet another study (I told you we’ve been talking about this for a while) is by @galwaygrrl and colleagues, which specifically seeks to measure the impact of takedowns on things like community breakdown: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319395856_DISRUPTING_DAESH_-_MEASURING_TAKEDOWN_OF_ONLINE_TERRORIST_MATERIAL_AND_ITS_IMPACTS
7. Quick interlude: a piece I return to often. By Facebook’s @brianfishman. Hard to summarize in a tweet, but it is a superb piece touching on everything you want to know. He also has a mic-drop paragraph, which I try to remember in my own work: https://tnsr.org/2019/02/crossroads-counter-terrorism-and-the-internet/
8. For far-right specific research, there some stuff I would recommend as well: @intelwire published this in 2018, and noted that suspensions of far-right accounts were leading to migration to platforms like Gab. https://www.voxpol.eu/download/vox-pol_publication/AltRightTwitterCensus.pdf
9. Another important study looks at the 2015 ban on several hateful subreddits. The study found “Through the banning of subreddits which engaged in racism and fat-shaming, Reddit was able to reduce the prevalence of such behavior on the site.” http://comp.social.gatech.edu/papers/cscw18-chand-hate.pdf
10. On the differences between how social media companies deal with jihadist groups versus the far-right, see @galwaygrrl: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03071847.2020.1727157
11. One thing I want to end with is a kind of obsession of mine: the notion of “online community”.
You can read my thoughts on the Islamic State’s online community here: https://warontherocks.com/2015/12/what-twitter-really-means-for-islamic-state-supporters/
Elizabeth pearson has also discussed this issue here: https://www.voxpol.eu/wilayat-twitter-and-the-battle-against-islamic-states-twitter-jihad/
You can read my thoughts on the Islamic State’s online community here: https://warontherocks.com/2015/12/what-twitter-really-means-for-islamic-state-supporters/
Elizabeth pearson has also discussed this issue here: https://www.voxpol.eu/wilayat-twitter-and-the-battle-against-islamic-states-twitter-jihad/
12. Much of this is also true for the far-right. They get immense amount of social and psychological benefits from being connected to like-minded people. Disrupting these networks is ultimately a good thing, but we need to think about how it impacts them and how they may respond
13. For individuals who receive an enormous amount of meaning and purpose from being a movement leader in the online space, having that disappear overnight could have unpredictable impact. One such case I’ve written about before: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/what-aaron-told-me-an-expert-on-extremism-shares-his-conversations-with-the-terror-suspect
14. And finally, with bizarre timing, we just published a piece on how ISIS supporters reacted to a major online campaign against them in November 2019. It seems we may be going through a similar watershed moment for the far-right today. https://twitter.com/AmarAmarasingam/status/1347556846341672963?s=20
15/15. If I forgot any pertinent pieces on deplatforming, do post them here.
16/16. One piece I forgot to add on how suspensions can actually reinforce online community is this one by @lizzypearson. Well worth your time. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1057610X.2017.1352280
17/17. One more. 
https://twitter.com/iwn_lx/status/1348219124346978304
https://twitter.com/iwn_lx/status/1348219124346978304
Attaching this here to keep everything organized. lol https://twitter.com/amaramarasingam/status/1348755672704438276
