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The Unintended Consequences of the Removal of Terrorist Content and the Case of Bitchute

Joe Whittaker Orcid Logo, Anne Craanen

Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Pages: 1 - 22

Swansea University Authors: Joe Whittaker Orcid Logo, Anne Craanen

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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/1057610x.2025.2595843

Abstract

Content removal has become the primary method of countering terrorism online. This can be effective but also entails significant costs. We outline two interrelated ways in which removal leads to negative consequences: creating ideologically homogenous clusters – i.e. “echo chambers” – and forcing ma...

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Published in: Studies in Conflict & Terrorism
ISSN: 1057-610X 1521-0731
Published: Informa UK Limited 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70973
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spelling 2026-01-12T20:53:30.5998012 v2 70973 2025-11-24 The Unintended Consequences of the Removal of Terrorist Content and the Case of Bitchute 112ed59957393e783f913443ec80faab 0000-0001-7342-6369 Joe Whittaker Joe Whittaker true false b3c0ac55894201326b52f95f83f4a3f6 Anne Craanen Anne Craanen true false 2025-11-24 SOSS Content removal has become the primary method of countering terrorism online. This can be effective but also entails significant costs. We outline two interrelated ways in which removal leads to negative consequences: creating ideologically homogenous clusters – i.e. “echo chambers” – and forcing malign actors to innovate, potentially increasing the risk of radicalization. We argue that removal must be part of the response, but in some situations, other options may be preferable. We offer a case study of BitChute to demonstrate that if a platform is willing to work against terrorists, it may be better to avoid content removal. Journal Article Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 0 1 22 Informa UK Limited 1057-610X 1521-0731 9 12 2025 2025-12-09 10.1080/1057610x.2025.2595843 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) Swansea University 2026-01-12T20:53:30.5998012 2025-11-24T13:38:26.9106061 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy Joe Whittaker 0000-0001-7342-6369 1 Anne Craanen 2 70973__35868__64a8e040b97040fe9c71a46c6804d8a6.pdf 70973.VOR.pdf 2025-12-19T12:21:50.3660125 Output 1917855 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title The Unintended Consequences of the Removal of Terrorist Content and the Case of Bitchute
spellingShingle The Unintended Consequences of the Removal of Terrorist Content and the Case of Bitchute
Joe Whittaker
Anne Craanen
title_short The Unintended Consequences of the Removal of Terrorist Content and the Case of Bitchute
title_full The Unintended Consequences of the Removal of Terrorist Content and the Case of Bitchute
title_fullStr The Unintended Consequences of the Removal of Terrorist Content and the Case of Bitchute
title_full_unstemmed The Unintended Consequences of the Removal of Terrorist Content and the Case of Bitchute
title_sort The Unintended Consequences of the Removal of Terrorist Content and the Case of Bitchute
author_id_str_mv 112ed59957393e783f913443ec80faab
b3c0ac55894201326b52f95f83f4a3f6
author_id_fullname_str_mv 112ed59957393e783f913443ec80faab_***_Joe Whittaker
b3c0ac55894201326b52f95f83f4a3f6_***_Anne Craanen
author Joe Whittaker
Anne Craanen
author2 Joe Whittaker
Anne Craanen
format Journal article
container_title Studies in Conflict & Terrorism
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publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 1057-610X
1521-0731
doi_str_mv 10.1080/1057610x.2025.2595843
publisher Informa UK Limited
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
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description Content removal has become the primary method of countering terrorism online. This can be effective but also entails significant costs. We outline two interrelated ways in which removal leads to negative consequences: creating ideologically homogenous clusters – i.e. “echo chambers” – and forcing malign actors to innovate, potentially increasing the risk of radicalization. We argue that removal must be part of the response, but in some situations, other options may be preferable. We offer a case study of BitChute to demonstrate that if a platform is willing to work against terrorists, it may be better to avoid content removal.
published_date 2025-12-09T05:34:06Z
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