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Introduction to Special Issue: The Practicalities and Complexities of (Regulating) Online Terrorist Content Moderation

According to the UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, “most terrorism arrestees are profoundly engaged in expressing and consuming violent and hateful material online, and that online encouragement can be troublingly effective at promoting violence in others.”1 This has also been the experience of counter-terrorism police.2 A recent study of individuals convicted of extremism offences in the UK provides empirical support for this view, concluding that the internet is playing an increasingly prominent role in radicalisation processes and that radicalisation now takes place primarily online.3 In light of these findings, it is unsurprising that the moderation of online terrorist and violent extremist content (TVEC) is a pressing concern for policymakers and practitioners alike. The European Union’s (EU) Terrorist Content Online Regulation (TCO) imposes obligations on in-scope platforms, including to remove terrorist content within one hour of receiving a removal order from a competent authority.4 National legislatures too have enacted regulatory regimes, such as Germany’s Netzwerkduchsetzungsgesetz (‘Network Enforcement Act’ or ‘NetzDG’ for short),5 and the UK’s currently in-process Online Safety Bill.6 As the articles in this special issue demonstrate, both content moderation and the enactment of accompanying regulatory regimes are complex tasks.

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