Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 04/2009

Countering Violent Extremism: Videopower and Cyberspace

J. Rami Mroz

February 2008

EastWest Institute

Abstract

The use by violent extremists of the internet and video formats disseminated on it is a well-known and increasingly disturbing phenomenon. Cyberspace allows for the quick and relatively low-cost dissemination of audio-visual material to all corners of the globe. The paper advises governments to distinguish sharply between strategies intended to suppress web-based aspects of direct terrorist actions or operations and those used to counter generalized extremist calls to violence.