The Terrorism Becomes Social: The New Threat of Extremist and Terrorist Activism in Social Media

This paper documents a public debate held at the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA) in Bucharest, examining the weaponisation of social media platforms by extremist and terrorist organisations.

The central thesis is that major social media platforms — designed for commercial engagement and optimised to maximise user attention — have proven structurally hospitable to extremist content, creating conditions in which radicalisation can occur at scale and with a speed that outpaces both platform moderation and law enforcement responses.

The analysis documents specific recruitment and radicalisation pathways used by jihadist organisations and far-right extremist groups alike, including the strategic use of seemingly innocuous content to draw in vulnerable individuals before exposing them to more extreme material — a technique widely described as the "rabbit hole" effect.

The paper examines the particular challenge posed by encrypted messaging applications, where the absence of algorithmic curation means that extremist communities can operate with relative impunity, coordinating real-world activities through channels that are difficult for security services to monitor at scale.

Romania's potential role in shaping European cybersecurity policy is explored in detail, arguing that Bucharest — as a significant NATO ally with growing digital sector capabilities and direct experience of influence operations targeting post-communist societies — is well-positioned to contribute to European-level frameworks for countering online extremism.

The debate concluded with recommendations for a multi-stakeholder approach combining platform accountability legislation, public digital literacy programmes, and enhanced cooperation between security services and civil society researchers who monitor extremist online communities.