Violent extremism is defined as the actions and beliefs of individuals who apply or support violence that is ideologically motivated to achieve radical political, religious, or ideological views ( King & Taylor, 2011) . The form of extremism may be perpetuated by individuals who grew up in a given region or foreign individuals who travel from other areas with the sole purpose of committing acts of violence. Violent extremism executed by individuals who have primarily lived in a given area is known as homegrown violent extremism. People who commit such acts are known as homegrown violent extremists (HVEs). According to the FBI, HVEs refer to individuals of any citizenship who have primarily operated or lived in the U.S or its territories who are engaged in, advocate for, or are preparing to support or execute ideologically-motivated terrorist-related activities in a bid to further the social or political objectives that are advanced by foreign terrorist organizations, but they act without necessarily getting any direction from the international organizations ( King & Taylor, 2011) . One of the most conventional ways through which small groups or lone offenders get radicalized into committing the terrorist activities presently is through social media and the internet. The approach has posed a significant challenge for the anti-terrorism units since the internet makes it difficult for the groups to detect and disrupt all terrorist plans before they can be executed. HVEs are presently ranked among the key threats to national security across the world. This paper explores the impact of social media and the internet on homegrown terrorism in North America, as well as the measures that have been implemented to de-radicalize extremists and counter HVEs in the region, and seeks to recommend a viable strategy for ensuring efficiency in managing HVEs in the area.
Recruitment and Radicalization of Extremists in North America
Before individuals can become extremists, they often have to go through the radicalization process, which involves changing the individual’s beliefs and instilling in them ideologies that pertain to violence. However, there is a small difference between radicalization and extremism; where despite the idea that all radicalized persons are extremists, not all extremists are radicalized through deliberate efforts that most terrorist groups use in indoctrinating their potential followers and recruits ( Rasmussen, 2015) . Becoming an extremist or a terrorist takes time, as a person gets radicalized to transform from a responsible, law-abiding citizen to a person ready to take other innocent people's lives. Radicalization is defined as the process through which a group or an individual increasingly adopts extreme religious, social, or political aspirations or ideas that undermine or contradict the contemporary expressions or beliefs of a nation ( King & Taylor, 2011) . According to Pettinger (2017), individual transformation through radicalization occur whenever a person is exposed to different external and internal influences that seek to change their way of thinking and their perception of the world.
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The Radicalization Process
In a bid to understand the radicalization process, scholars have implemented different models that seek to break down the entire process. One of the critical models applied in North America to explain the radicalized process in the NYPD model ( Rasmussen, 2015) . The model comprises of four stages, including pre-radicalization, self-identification, indoctrination, and jihadization. The pre-radicalization stage pertains to a person’s world before they start the radicalization. The scene is characterized by individuals who are young, from societies that are male-dominated, from middle-class backgrounds, and mainly male Muslims. Most of these individuals are unlikely to possess a criminal history, and they mainly comprise of recent Muslim converts, third generation immigrants, and they are often well-educated. However, individuals who get radicalized are not often devout Muslims or radical.
The radicalization process starts in the second stage, self-identification, for persons with characteristics that denote potential extremism behavior. According to Pettinger (2017), most individuals are driven into this stage by a personal crisis, such as an identity crisis, discrimination, or losing a job, which leads the person to turn to the Islam religion. The dilemma often challenges a person's existing beliefs, and the person seeks Islamic teachings to manage his or her crisis. In the process of exploring the Islamic religion, one gets exposed to the radical interpretations of the religion, such as the Jihadi-Salafi ideology. The ideology can be easily accessed from the internet, and are further reinforced by media reports about the Western aggression in Muslim-dominated regions. As individuals increasingly explore these aspects, they form a new identity and begin searching for other like-minded persons, creating groups that become more extreme and religious.
In the third stage, indoctrination, a person fully accepts the Jihadi-Salafi ideology and takes violence against anything that is not Islamic ( Rasmussen, 2015) . The persons then increasingly politicize their growing religiosity with the aim of proofing that the West is starting a war against Islam. As a result, individuals shift their view from pursuing personal goals and focus on non-personal purposes, mainly aiming at avenging or protecting Muslims. People who have attained the indoctrination stage withdraw, link with other individuals who share a similar ideology and engage in private meetings to pursue radical agendas.
In the final stage, jihadization, the indoctrinated persons declare themselves as mujahedeen or holy warriors, and they become highly committed to executing violent jihad. Often, they seek para-military training in the jihadi training camps abroad, or they may seek the training locally ( Hoffman, 2006) . Eventually, they plan a terror attack, with the planning process focusing on such aspects as the mode, time, and date or attack, as well as the potential targets. The group then determines the role of each member, conduct surveys on the potential targets, and acquires the required materials to execute the attack.
Impact of Social Media and the Internet on Homegrown Extremism
Homegrown radicalization refers to the process through which individuals get radicalized in the Western country of residence, a trend that is common in North America and Western Europe. Radicalization that contributes to homegrown terrorism has become a key focus area since most of the terrorist activities that have occurred in the past decade have been linked to local groups that are often not directly connected to Al Qaeda, but they are highly inspired by the ideologies of the Al Qaeda ( Hoffman, 2006) . The element demonstrates that local individuals have an approach of drawing their inspiration and learning about terrorism, mainly through social media and the internet, which enables individuals to develop networks and share information without direct connection.
Social media and the internet have significantly changed the manner in which information travels across the world. Given that most parts of the world are internet connected and that Internet-enabled devices are becoming more popular mainly among the youths, information is capable of reaching millions of people within seconds of sharing across the world. Individuals are presently engaged in online activities that have great potential in influencing the way other people think, including participating in the discussion in online forums and uploading or posting material to the internet. Such content or discussions perform a more traditional role in the recruitment process by changing others’ perception of the world and influencing them into terrorism. Extremists also use the online platforms to solicit or raise resources that are required to further their cause. Bertram (2016) notes that in the West, there are individuals who concentrate on collecting vast amounts of data, including tweets, photos, and posts and flooding them on social media. Although these individuals do not necessarily champion for anyone specific terrorist group, their main focus is spreading the idea of confrontation and distrust between Islam and the West, while seeking to further the Islamist agenda.
The internet has particularly aided in the radicalization and recruitment of extremists, especially among the young people, who almost entirely rely on the web for information. However, since the web is not subjected to regulations, cyberspace allows terrorists, criminals, and hackers to execute their activities, particularly in such places as the darknet. The darknet refers to the infamous part of the deep web that is inaccessible by the general public. The darknet mainly consists of black markets, including Silkroad with the crypto-currencies that are used in purchasing illegal items, such as drugs and weapons ( Bertram, 2016) . Through the Hidden Wiki, the essential directory on the dark web, users can find data and gain access to such illegal activities as a contract killing, money laundering, restricted chemicals, computer hacking, and all types of counterfeiting.
Terrorist websites are also found on the dark web; one of the critical characteristics of these websites is that their internet addresses can be rapidly changed ( Horgan, 2009) . In some cases, authorities may force sites to close; however, the informal networks that are based on e-mail or chat rooms inform their supporters about the addresses of the new networks. The word-of-mouth mode of communication associated with the members of the criminal networks is highly effective, and it plays a vital role in reinforcing a sense of inclusion in the group among the supporters. Moreover, the communication approach helps in empowering the group members against the parties that are likely to close down their website.
According to Bertram (2016), militants who emerged in North America following the 9/11 have demonstrated that they do not require face-to-face interactions with other extremists to radicalize. Instead, they can effectively self-radicalize by solely accessing extremist readings and other materials from the internet. Once they are fully radicalized, they begin creating websites in the English language, adding to the amount of extremist knowledge already available in Arabic ( Horgan, 2009) . Unlike in the past years where individuals who sought to learn about the extremists' philosophy could only access such knowledge from the extremists' training camps or mosques, presently, the knowledge is a click away. The modern jihadists are, and they can effectively communicate in English, which makes it very easy for them to recruit and radicalize people in North America.
Moreover, Wojtasik (2017) postulates that given that it has become extremely difficult for such traditional extremist institutions as training camps to operate following heightened security measures, the internet has grown to be one of the most convenient and efficient channels that extremists can pursue their radicalization and recruitment objectives. Mainly, extremists use the internet to recruit and radicalize individuals anonymously by sharing videos through YouTube and other platforms, sharing extremist information, networking, conducting psychological warfare, and through propaganda and publicity ( Alava, Frau-Meigs & Hassan, 2017) . Further, the internet platform enables established extremists to support the newly radicalized individuals to pursue their agenda through helping in the coordination of terrorist activities, fundraising, and data mining.
On the other hand, the growth of social media platforms has facilitated the growth of online communities that can share ideas and exchange information, which to an exceptional extent support extremism. Presently, social media has become the ultimate recruitment tool for jihadists, since it allows individuals to access extremist ideologies and spread them across the world using the platforms. Moreover, much of the Jihadist content spread on social media is in English, therefore making radicalization and recruitment into the groups comfortable in North America. According to Wojtasik (2017), one of the major terrorist groups that have significantly dominated social media is the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which emerged from Al Qaeda. ISIS dominates social media for several reasons, including recruitment media experienced and techno-savvy persons to develop the graphics and messages that they use in radicalizing youths across the world. Moreover, the extremist group uses the platforms to create such programs as bots, which have the capacity of taking over other accounts and transmitting the extremists' critical messages on a massive scale.
Current Efforts to Counter Homegrown Violent Extremists in North America
Governments across the world are increasingly focusing on implementing strategies that seek to counter extremism and de-radicalize individuals to prevent them from committing violent terrorist activities. In North America, several initiatives have been developed, particularly those focusing on developing partnerships with the local communities to allow early detection of extreme behavior within the population ( Alava, Frau-Meigs & Hassan, 2017) . Detecting extreme behavior early enough has played a vital role in countering the violent extremists before they can execute acts of violence that can harm lives and the region’s economy.
Apart from preventing violent attacks, the region has also focused on the de-radicalization of persons who have already adopted the extremist ideologies or even executed violent acts relating to extremism. According to Borum (2011), de-radicalization refers to a psychological and social process through which a person’s involvement in and commitment to violent radicalization is minimized to the level that the person is no longer at risk of executing violence. The process may occur due to a formal government program, intervention, or disillusionment with the group or cause. De-radicalization programs mainly aim at minimizing the risk of re-offending among the radicalized persons identified by the community leaders or the government by primarily focusing on addressing the fundamental misconceptions and root causes of the extremist beliefs. One of the approaches that regions apply in the de-radicalization process is engaging reputable clerics and religious scholars in the process of persuading extremists about their mistaken ideologies or views.
There are different approaches to de-radicalization, including deprogramming, dialogue, disbandment, amnesty, counseling, reintegration, and reconciliation ( Pettinger, 2017) . Individuals who are caught engaging in extremist activities are arrested to reduce their risk of executing violence; however, after incarceration, they may be reintegrated into the society using the relevant programs. In other cases, they may be granted amnesty or imprisoned for life. Countries may also take such initiatives as disbanding the existing extremist groups to weaken the radicalized individuals since, in the absence of the organizations, an individual may not be in a position to execute violence due to lack of resources. Dialogue and reconciliation are also effective strategies in the deradicalization process since they seek to influence the thinking of radicalized individuals so that they can perceive the world differently from the terrorists. These approaches seek to demonstrate to the individuals that they have a wrong perception about the world and the people while striving to influence them towards developing positive thoughts.
Although all these strategies are crucial to the de-radicalization process, each possesses unique strengths and weaknesses, an element that necessitates combining different approaches for best results. Counseling is one of the key strategies that should be emphasized in all aspects of the de-radicalization process. The strategy plays a vital role in behavior modification since it helps individuals to understand the motivations behind their actions and establish more viable and ethical approaches for dealing with their problems. However, the counseling radicalized persons should be combined with other strategies such as programs that aid in the effective reintegration of the persons into their local communities to prevent them from relapsing into extremism, dialogue and reconciliation, as well as the disbandment of the existing extremist groups, which provide the relevant support for individuals to engage in radical violence.
References
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