Abstract

There is an ongoing need for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to identify and examine the online posting behaviors of violent extremists prior to their engagement in violence offline, but little is empirically known about their online presence generally or differences in their posting behaviors compared to their non-violent counterparts particularly. Even less is empirically known about their persisting and desisting posting patterns. This study drew from a unique sample of violent and non-violent right-wing extremists to examine online changes in posting patterns during the beginning, middle, and end of their observed posting activity. Here, we identified persister and desister posters to create four sample groups: non-violent persisters, non-violent desisters, violent persisters, and violent desisters. We then calculated the average number of posts for each sample group as well as quantified the existence of extremist ideologies and violent extremist mobilization efforts across each observed posting period. Overall, we identified several noteworthy posting patterns that may assist law enforcement and intelligence agencies in identifying credible threats online. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of the analysis, its limitations, and avenues for future research.