On a chilly December afternoon, we set out with Dr Julia Ebner for a stroll around Addison’s Walk, and a chat about her latest research. Julia is a postdoctoral researcher at the Calleva Centre for Evolutionary and Human Science; a Research Affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion; and a leading expert on online radicalisation, frequently advising bodies ranging from the UN to international intelligence agencies.
Her research takes her into the hidden digital world of extremist subcultures, analysing everything from thousand-page manifestos to the ad-hoc chat logs of “incel” communities. We discussed the frightening “gamification” of modern terror and her earlier, her early days of going undercover to investigate the psychology of those in the dark corners of the internet, and her optimism that the next generation might be better equipped to navigate online than we are.
This conversation was originally part of the Addison’s Talks podcast, where we take a walk with one of our academics around the Water Meadow to discuss their work and research.
We’re here to talk about your work on counterterrorism but you’ve just got a new book coming out, can you tell us a bit about it?
It’s called The Language of Terrorists, and it’s the end product of the research I conducted during my DPhil here at Oxford. I specifically studied the language of violent extremists and convicted terrorists by analysing manifestos, chat logs, and other communication materials. I compared these against a control group of extremists who never used violence, as well as average political users. It was fascinating to see specific psychological patterns emerge in the language. Understanding these drivers is one of the key challenges we face; it is essential for learning how to prevent radicalisation and, crucially, how to intervene when someone is already on a pathway toward violence.
What are some of the patterns that you’ve noticed in terms of the way that people speak in certain groups online?
It all comes down to ‘identity fusion’; that moment your personal identity merges with a group until they feel like kin you’d do anything to protect. In my analysis of everything from Anders Breivik’s thousand-page manifesto to far-right chat logs, I found a recurring pattern of four things that make up what we call a ‘deadly cocktail’ of extremism: an atmosphere that glorifies violence, identity fusion, an existential threat, and a demonised out-group. When these four ingredients surface in language, there’s a high likelihood the individual is a violent extremist.
Beyond the text, I found that shared ‘dysphoric’ or traumatic experiences often act as the catalyst, making people in the midst of an identity crisis vulnerable to the pull of a closed, exclusive group. My goal is to help security services triage the overwhelming amount of online data by identifying these specific psychological and linguistic markers so that they can hopefully stop violent acts of extremism or terror before they happen.
I came to a talk that you did a little while ago about the use of language in incel communities and how that’s similar to other kinds of terrorist or extremist groups online. Could you share a bit about that?
A lot of the extremist communities and movements now have developed their own language: subculture references, gamified language, insider codes, jokes, all kinds of references glorifying previous attackers or violence, and even underlying psychological patterns. This makes it harder both for security services but also for academic researchers to use linguistic markers because the codes are always changing. Get the high score is one of these examples of video games that have increasingly been used in gamified terrorism.
In your previous work, especially in your book Going Dark, you went undercover to investigate the way people spoke to each other in these communities. What was that like? Scary, to capture it in one word; and probably also naïve. This was very early in my career when I was very interested in understanding the human patterns and the psychology of people in groups like these, but I approached it from a more investigative angle
Of course, there still a sense of immersing yourself in the community doing ethnographic work, like the anthropological research I’m doing now, but this I would say was going above and beyond!
I did find it insightful, but so shocking, to witness their rhetoric first hand and immerse myself within these communities. I think I learned most about the underlying psychological patterns that drive behaviours like this, which I think decided to pursue more systematically within my academic research to find out what is it that drives people into the arms of extremist groups.
There is no definition of extremism and it’s very hard to find a common definition or consensus, both in academia and in policy. I really learned that it’s understanding the link between ideology and psychological patterns that can help security services make an evidence-based assessment of what is it actually that poses a threat to national security or in terms of violence.
All this can feel quite bleak. What do you hope for the future?
I’m quite pessimistic about the immediate future, but in the long run, I’m actually rather optimistic. On the horizon, we see threats like democratic backsliding and the rise of ‘strongman’ leaders, often propelled by tech-savvy psychological operations. It’s a worrying dynamic, but not a surprising one; history shows that health or economic crises always bring a higher susceptibility to conspiracy myths and anti-minority resentment. Today, that’s combined with AI and social media algorithms that prioritise anger and fear, allowing radical discourse to go viral.
However, I have a lot of faith in the next generation. They’ve grown up inside this landscape and are already showing positive signs of change, whether by leaving social media or becoming more passive online. I’m hopeful they’ll manage these challenges much better than we have.
Finally, if you could take somebody else on an Addison’s walk, who would you like to take and why?
It’s so difficult! I probably should name someone who’s alive in the hope that they will actually join me for a walk one day.
I’m a huge fan of Margaret Atwood and her writings. she’s written a lot about some of the trends that we’re seeing – in terms of a dystopian picture of rolling back human rights. So, I think I’d love to talk to her about what she makes about the current trends that we’re seeing. Plus, I just think her writing is really inspiring.
A huge thank you to Julia for joining us on Addison’s Walk to decode the complex world of extremist subcultures and radical discourse. While hearing about her first-hand experiences in the darker corners of the internet can feel daunting, it is heartening to hear her sense of optimism for the digital future of the next generation.
If you’re interested in hearing more from our academics, follow Addison’s Talks on Spotify or YouTube, and check back regularly for new episodes of our strolls around the Water Meadow.