Mark W. Perry is the lead information warfare research analyst at the John and Mary Frances Patton Peace and War Center at Norwich University. He is also an adjunct professor at Norwich University’s Leahy School of Cybersecurity and Advanced Computing, where he teaches digital threat analysis and open-source research methods. His research interests include social cybersecurity, international relations, and comparative politics. Mark’s publications explore the strategies and tactics with which state and non-state actors craft narratives and wield influence in competition and conflict.

Arman Irani is a 4th year PhD candidate in Computer Science at the University of California, Riverside, with a focus in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and its application in comprehending and quantifying online interactions. His research interests lie in the exploration of deliberation dynamics within online forums, with a particular emphasis on dissecting the discourse that occurs on platforms such as Reddit and Telegram and the relationship between real-world events and online conversations. Arman’s publications delve into the realms of domain-specific keyword expansion, sentiment analysis, and the development of robust frameworks for quantifying discourse encompassing contentious subjects.

Racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism (REMVE) has inspired many of the most heinous acts of terror in recent history, from Oslo (2011) and Christchurch (2019) to Halle (2019) and Buffalo (2022). The emergence of alternative social media platforms and encrypted messaging applications has facilitated radicalization across national borders, pushing domestic violent extremism firmly into the purview of international cybersecurity.  In this work, the authors propose a framework and methodology for understanding transnational REMVE movements and their digital operations. First, the authors present a novel dataset of Telegram channels linked to neo-fascist accelerationist organizations from around the world and their direct communication networks. Second, a narrative-driven network analysis methodology is developed to identify shared objectives between decentralized actors and to measure the influence and propagation of harmful narratives.  Findings reveal a deeply networked transnational REMVE ecosystem, in which U.S.-based actors are the most prolific, yet channels in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand possess significant influence as brokers of extremist narratives across borders.  Argument analysis further discovers leading transnational influencers and the impact of their arguments on other users over time. In terms of cross-platform activity, while other alternative platforms like Gab, Bitchute, Rumble, and Odysee are frequently linked to the analysed Telegram channels, the most traffic between REMVE Telegram and external websites involves X and YouTube. The methodology and framework introduced in this paper provide insight into the information manipulation tactics of domestic and non-state actors, the detection of REMVE influencers and harmful narratives, and the measurement of their downstream effects on online communities. Ultimately, this research sheds light on the decentralized networks linking REMVE influencers to the acts of violence they inspire and informs future efforts to analyse and disrupt online radicalization pathways within and between democracies.