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Category: Project

Description: There has recently been a surge in online political polarization and radicalization, occurring alongside an increase in the popularity of offline radical movements. In response, researchers have developed techniques to detect and measure extreme forms of radical speech online. However, these techniques are aimed at detecting overt radical speech, which refers to messages that are broadcast honestly and without disguise. In many cases, radical ideas are instead spread using coded language, so-called covert communication, which is designed to be accurately received by its intended audience but obscured from those who do not share the same views. Examples of covert communication include conversational humor, flirting, and political dog whistles. Today there is little understanding about how covert radical speech is used online and when and where it is preferred to overt forms of speech. This interdisciplinary project uses innovative, theoretically-driven methodology to disambiguate overt and covert radical political speech, and to explain the mechanisms underlying the changes in their relative use.