The Internet and Social Media as an Enabling Force

The internet and social media may function as critical enabling forces in the development of lone-actor terrorists. This chapter reviews several aspects of information and communications technology that contribute to its relevance in lone-actor terrorism today: information access; logistics and planning; social needs and reinforcement; propaganda, misinformation, and escalation; and leakage. Three hypothetical case vignettes drawn from factors in recent real-life cases help to illustrate the potential roles of social media and the internet in the processes of radicalization, knowledge- and skill-building, attack planning and logistics, spreading extremist beliefs and inciting violence, and providing outlets for leakage of violent or terrorist intent, potentially enabling intervention before an attack takes place. The chapter also discusses several recent trends relevant to the intersection of lone-actor terrorism with the internet and social media, such as the rise of right-wing extremism in the west and the rapid development of artificial intelligence tools.