Abstract
Social media is inundated with radical and extreme propaganda. Such information is often left unfiltered due to platform algorithms that are economically driven and socially unethical in design. It puts social media users, mostly youth, in danger of becoming radicalized and vulnerable to supporting and engaging with extremist beliefs. When young people lack sufficient critical social media literacy (CSML), radical and extremist information impacts their perspectives, affecting behavior in the real world. A PRISMA-guided systematic review of the Web of Science core collections and the Scopus database was used to find peer-reviewed articles about how CSML skills can be used to prevent and counter violent extremism (P/CVE). The thematic analysis of selected articles concludes that CSML is an essential skill for youth in the face of radical and extremist misuse of social media. The trio of platforms, governments, and users have shared responsibility to inculcate CSML skills among users engaging with social media.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Akram, M., Arshad-Ayaz, A., & Naseem, M. A. (2026). Leveraging critical social media literacy to safeguard youth against violent radicalization and extremi. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 18(1), 143-156. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2026-18-1-9
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