Online Propaganda and Youth Extremism

Abstract

Digital propaganda has become one of the most powerful forces driving youth radicalization, enabling extremist ideologies to spread through social media, encrypted messaging apps, gaming platforms, and viral content ecosystems. Online recruitment strategies utilize psychological manipulation, identity-based narratives, emotional triggers, algorithmic amplification, and social belonging to target vulnerable youth. This paper synthesizes behavioral psychology, online propaganda models, and radicalization research to analyze how extremist organizations leverage digital ecosystems to recruit, indoctrinate, and operationalize youth participation. It further proposes a multi-layered prevention framework integrating counter-narratives, media literacy, digital monitoring, and trauma-informed interventions.