The Feed That Shapes Us: Extremism and Adolescence in the Age of Algorithms

Summary

This Insight was published as part of GIFCT’s Working Group on Addressing Youth Radicalization and Mobilization (AYRM). GIFCT Working Groups bring together experts from diverse stakeholder groups, geographies and disciplines to offer advice in specific thematic areas and deliver on targeted, substantive projects. The following Insight is published as part of Next Wave, The International Center for Children and Global Security’s contribution to AYRM. In today’s digital ecosystem, radicalisation no longer takes root in ideological echo chambers but permeates into the speech, humour, and emotional syntax of youth culture. Online spaces once reserved for socialisation and self-expression now double as arenas where identity, belonging and ideology collide. In the attention economy, algorithms reward engagement over nuance, and outrage may travel faster than empathy. In this online ecosystem, effective prevention requires helping young people understand the very architectures that shape what they see, how they feel, and who they connect with. Reframing prevention as the cultivation of participatory design, the Insight proposes an alternative paradigm for thinking about youth not only as passive consumers, but also as co-creators of ethical norms in their digital coming-of-age. Facing a fragmented, algorithm-driven digital environment, we may need to shift from a traditional reliance on content moderation and takedowns toward an infrastructure that promotes transparency in recommender systems. Algorithmic literacy may be the key missing element in devising more effective responses to the online logics of extremism and radicalisation.

Keywords

extremism, adolescence, algorithms, social media