On February 3, UVA faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates gathered for lunch and a colloquium presentation by Dr. Sophia Solomon, Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics and Middle Eastern & South Asian Languages & Cultures on online/offline radicalization.

Professor Solomon shared the findings of her recent collaboration with an international group of scholars, which identified the risk of radicalization among social media users. Contextualized by post-truth socio-politics, her investigation highlights the connections between online and offline radicalization and violence. Rapid consumption of media, especially media which is algorithmically tailored to each of our biases, is a key factor in the radicalization process.

Professor Solomon concluded her presentation by suggesting that people cultivate concrete media literacy skills and consider that regulating online violence is key to mitigating radicalization and instances of offline violence that often follow from it.