ICA 2025 Preconference

Social Media Radicalization: Definitions, Theories, Methods

This International Communication Association (ICA) preconference aims to bring scholars together to:

1) Interrogate the conceptualization of radicalization in research about social media,

2) Diversify perspectives on radicalization online,

3) Highlight work on radicalization that focuses on more “mundane” and “everyday” forms of radicalization online,

4) Consider radicalization online as attitudinal or perceptual rather than solely an outcome of a process.

About the Preconference

The ways people talk about “radicalization” have changed significantly in recent years. Much of the foundational literature on radicalization equates it with violent terrorism (Borum, 2012; Kundnani, 2012; Marwick, Clancy, & Furl, 2022; Meleagrou-Hitchens & Kaderbhai, 2016); yet recent research and popular discourse on radicalization is more closely connected to theories about partisanship, polarization, and extremist beliefs (Almagro, 2023; Biddle et al., 2024; Dalgaard-Nielsen, 2012; Roose, 2019; Tufekci, 2018). People talk about how friends fall through social media “rabbit holes” and begin adopting new, more extreme political beliefs. Bad faith actors engage in strategic information operations on social media to sow discord and widen sociopolitical divides. And political operatives discursively dismiss political opponents and activist movements by labeling them “radical.” This pre-conference aims to fill the gaps between foundational radicalization literature and current understandings of polarization online.

While radicalization takes many forms, social media has been a key area of focus for how radicalization occurs today (Aryaeinejad & Scherer, 2024; Habib, Srinivasan, & Nithyanand, 2022; Haroon et al, 2022; Ibrahim et al, 2023; Roose, 2019; Tufekci, 2018). People express concerns about how echo chambers and filter bubbles affect users on social media, how the political economy of platforms incentivizes anger and division between individuals and groups, and how mis- and dis-information online make it easy for false narratives to spread.

Call For Proposals

We are no longer accepting proposals.

Registration

Conveniently located less than 1 mile from the ICA conference hotel, the Social Media Radicalization preconference will be held in the Tivoli Student Union building on the Metropolitan State University of Denver campus. Registration managed by ICA.

Fee

Registration fee: $100 USD

Organizers will provide a catered hot lunch on-site, as well as morning and afternoon refreshments.

Location

Building location, rooms and parking maps will be posted when finalized.

Agenda

Format and agenda will be posted when finalized.

Speakers

	KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Dr. Samuel Woolley is a writer, researcher, and professor whose work focuses on how emergent technologies are used in efforts to manipulate global communication processes. His most recent book, Manufacturing Consensus: Understanding Propaganda in the Age of Automation and Anonymity, is an award-winning exploration of the people behind modern propaganda campaigns. Woolley is the William S. Dietrich II Endowed Chair in Disinformation Studies and an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh.
	FEATURED PANELIST: Becca Lewis is a Stanford Graduate Fellow and PhD candidate in Communication at Stanford University. She is an expert on disinformation and far-right digital media, and her white papers published with Data & Society are considered foundational studies in the field. In 2022, she served as an expert witness in the defamation lawsuits brought against Alex Jones by parents of Sandy Hook shooting victims. She holds an MSc in Social Science from the Oxford Internet Institute.
	FEATURED PANELIST: Kiran Garimella is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University. His research deals with using large-scale data to tackle societal issues such as misinformation, political polarization, or hate speech. Prior to joining Rutgers, Garimella was the Michael Hammer postdoc at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society at MIT. His research focuses on using digital data for social good, including areas like polarization, misinformation and human migration.
	FEATURED PANELIST: Meredith Pruden is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication and Media at Kennesaw State University. Her interdisciplinary, methodologically agnostic research lies at the intersection of feminist media studies and political communication, exploring harmful online content (e.g., hate speech, supremacism and violent extremist communication), “risky research” and research-related trauma, far-right media and politics (including coercive populist surveillance and tactical engagement), and mis/disinformation and conspiracism in their sociotechnical contexts.
	FEATURED PANELIST: Kurt Braddock is an Assistant Professor of Public Communication in the School of Communication at American University. Kurt also holds faculty fellow positions at the SOC's Center for Media and Social Impact (CMSI) and the IDEAS Lab. His research focuses on the persuasive strategies used by violent extremist groups to recruit and radicalize audiences targeted by their propaganda. Kurt also explores how theories of communication, persuasion, and social influence can be used to inform practices meant to prevent radicalization among vulnerable audiences.

Organizing Committee

The Center for Publics, Platforms & Personalization (CP3) is an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to studying the relationship between personalization algorithms and society. The preconference organizing committee includes: