The Language of Terrorists. Distinguishing Trolls from Violent Extremists

If someone posts a death threat or a violent manifesto online, will they cross over from words to deeds? Explicit threats, intimidation campaigns, and incitements to violence are no rarity among white nationalists, incels, and other racist and misogynist extremists. Yet it is often difficult to determine whether they pose genuine risks, since the boundaries between trolling and true violent intent can be blurry. How can we tell the difference between online bluster and terrorist threats?

Julia Ebner—an internationally acclaimed expert on online radicalization—offers a fresh approach, showing how language patterns reveal the potential for political violence. She investigates the psychological underpinnings of texts by terrorists such as Anders Breivik, Dylann Roof, Elliot Rodger, and Brenton Tarrant, offering statistical and qualitative contrasts with nonviolent political writing. Ebner finds striking similarities among their manifestos, including the fusion of personal identity with the group, visceral othering of outgroups, narratives of existential conflict, and the glorification of violence. Following these trails, she demonstrates that perpetrators of extremist violence inadvertently give away their intentions in what they say. Featuring vivid writing and actionable conclusions, The Language of Terrorists presents a new model of violent threat detection that can address pressing challenges faced by the international security and intelligence communities.

Introduction

Part I. Trends and Challenges

• Eris: When Is Someone a Terrorist?
• Loki: When Is Someone a Troll?
•  Ceridwen: Understanding Shape-Shifting
• Kek: Understanding Gamification
• Sisyphus: Finding the Needle in the Haystack

Part II. Drivers and Detection

• Of Pyramids and Staircases: The Evolution of Radicalization Theories
• Fusion Effect: An Emerging Explanation of Violent Extremism
• Guided Judgment: The Evolution of Professional Threat Assessment
•  Freudian Slip: Detecting Psychological Phenomena in Language
• Verbal Leakage: Identifying Would-Be Attackers Via Language

Part III. Patterns and Prediction

• Decoding Terrorist Manifestos
• The Terrorist Mindset
• Detecting Credible Threats
• Case Study: Far-Right Groups
• Case Study: QAnon Groups

Part IV. Solutions and Outlook

• Lessons for Policy, Security, and Tech
•  Ethical Limits and Lessons from the Past
• The Future of Threat Assessment

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Methods Appendix

Notes

Index

Julia Ebner is the leader of the Violent Extremism Lab at the University of Oxford’s Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion and co–executive director at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. She regularly advises governments, intelligence agencies, tech firms, and international organizations. Her books include Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists (2019) and Going Mainstream: How Extremists Are Taking Over (2023).

"When is a joke just a joke, and when might it signal the next attack? Combining the rigors of anthropology and data analysis with a steely eye on multiple unfolding terrorist threats, Julia Ebner breaks new ground in separating the signal from the noise. Essential reading for threat analysts everywhere." - John Horgan, author of Terrorist Minds: The Psychology of Violent Extremism from Al-Qaeda to the Far Right

"Julia Ebner is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on early detection of terrorism risk and this brilliant book shows why. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the roots of violent extremism." - Harvey Whitehouse, author of Inheritance: The Evolutionary Origins of the Modern World