Countering the Spread of Radical Ideologies in Social Media

The purpose of this study is to examine the destructive influence of social media on today's youth. It has been established that the Internet, on the one hand, although in many ways facilitates the daily life of people, at the same time it is a platform for broadcasting negative phenomena in society. The objectives of the study are to analyze the possibilities of social media, where recruiters to destructive ideologies carry out their activities. Social media facilitate the unhindered exchange of information under conditions of complete anonymity, both the recruiters and the users of the resources. At the same time, the subjects of this connection can be as far away from each other as they want. It was found that mainly adherents of destructive groups become candidates with unrealized needs: in domination (to express leadership positions); in internal security; in confirmation of their own values; in understanding, sympathy and mutual understanding. Conclusions: The study was able to establish the reasons for the involvement of young people in radical groups and formations, as well as to summarize the stages of such involvement. We also found that the recruiters most often have nothing to do with radical ideology, and their activities are aimed solely at obtaining financial remuneration. They conduct their activities in online communities through the technology of "online recruiting", the effect of which is aimed at involving the object of recruitment in various discussions, so that on a subconscious level they develop an approval of illegal actions and radical views. Subsequently, after psychological processing, recruiters redirect the candidate to another information resource (website, blog, forum, chat room) in order to establish even closer contact and begin discussing prospective cooperation.

radical ideology, extremism, social networking, online recruiting, online gaming