The role of Social media in radicalization and promoting extremism:

Objective: The study aimed to identify the role of social media in promoting extremism and radicalization from the stand point of university students. The study also aims to investigate the main motives for radicalization and for joining extremism groups
Methodology: The present study uses an exploratory and quantitative methodology. It was implemented through cross-sectional electronic survey that asked students to identify the view point on the role of social media in promoting for extremism ideas and the narrative online. The survey also asked participants to identify their perceived motivations to join extremism groups online.
Sample: An electronic survey was distributed to a sample of 1602 Kuwait University students; A total of (310 males and 1292 females) were selected using a non-probability method.
Results: The results of the study indicated that the majority of the sample members agreed that terrorist groups spread false beliefs related to religion, and that they represent a perversion of religion. The participants also agreed that social media promotes moral decay, and that these platforms help in spreading sectarianism. These results confirm the youth’s agreement that what terrorist and extremist groups do is a distortion of religion. The study also showed that the most prominent motive for joining extremist groups from the youth point of view is corruption, and it came with the highest mean among all motives (M=3.40, SD=1.20). As for political reasons; It came second with a mean of 3.35 and a standard deviation of 1.18, while unemployment came in third place (M=3.34, SD=1.16) while boredom motive obtained the lowest mean of 2.87.