Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34011970›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2021

Hidden order across online extremist movements can be disrupted by nudging collective chemistry.

N Velásquez, P Manrique, R Sear, R Leahy, N Johnson Restrepo, L Illari, Y Lupu, N F Johnson

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

N VelásquezInstitute for Data, Democracy and Politics, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.
P ManriqueTheoretical Biology and Biophysics Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 87545, Los Alamos, NM, Mexico.
R SearDepartment of Computer Science, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.
R LeahyInstitute for Data, Democracy and Politics, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.
N Johnson RestrepoInstitute for Data, Democracy and Politics, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.
L IllariPhysics Department, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.
Y LupuDepartment of Political Science, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.
N F JohnsonInstitute for Data, Democracy and Politics, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA. neiljohnson@gwu.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Disrupting the emergence and evolution of potentially violent online extremist movements is a crucial challenge. Extremism research has analyzed such movements in detail, focusing on individual- and movement-level characteristics. But are there system-level commonalities in the ways these movements emerge and grow? Here we compare the growth of the Boogaloos, a new and increasingly prominent U.S. extremist movement, to the growth of online support for ISIS, a militant, terrorist organization based in the Middle East that follows a radical version of Islam. We show that the early dynamics of these two online movements follow the same mathematical order despite their stark ideological, geographical, and cultural differences. The evolution of both movements, across scales, follows a single shockwave equation that accounts for heterogeneity in online interactions. These scientific properties suggest specific policies to address online extremism and radicalization. We show how actions by social media platforms could disrupt the onset and 'flatten the curve' of such online extremism by nudging its collective chemistry. Our results provide a system-level understanding of the emergence of extremist movements that yields fresh insight into their evolution and possible interventions to limit their growth.

Identifiers

PMID34011970
PMCPMC8134557

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.