Radicalization through social networks during the pandemic Abstract. The coronavirus pandemic has led to the use of social networks at an unprecedented level. The use of social networks and isolation have created an ideal framework for carrying out radicalization activities. Social networks have helped with the way communication is achieved, but there are also negative effects produced by them, and online radicalization is one of these negative effects. In the digital age, information has crossed the barriers imposed by time and geographical space. This was also exploited by terrorist groups that took advantage of the opportunities offered by the online environment, and the pandemic period represented a new opportunity for these groups to recruit new members. Based on this premise, we analysed the articles on radicalization through social networks to observe the effects that the coronavirus pandemic had on the research of the phenomenon of radicalization. We believe that in this digital age, efficient communication is difficult to achieve, given the large volume of information accessible to all. That is why researchers in the field of radicalization have an extremely high responsibility, namely, the efficient spread of messages to prevent this phenomenon. 1. Introduction The motivation of this research is based on the author's interest in identifying the negative impact of social networks on society during the pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has meant many changes for the whole world. Physical distance required the adoption of a lifestyle to compensate for this. Social networks have helped activities in many areas and have facilitated communication between people, this being the main function for which they were created. However, the use of social networks has also helped those activities that should not exist, including terrorism. The use of social networks and isolation are factors that increase the activity of radicalization in the online environment, and the pandemic that began in 2020 forced people to do both: to use social networks to compensate for physical distance and to isolate, given that many activities were conducted from home. Starting from this aspect, we intend to analyse the articles that were written during the pandemic about radicalization in the online environment to create an image of how radicalization was perceived during this period. We will create this image based on the conclusions obtained by researchers in the field. We do not assume that we will identify all articles related to this topic, which is why we will establish the criteria set for identifying the articles. We will identify articles by using the Google Scholar search engine. Then, we will go through the results obtained to identify that information that indicates how the radicalization phenomenon was treated in 2020. The hypothesis we state is that the pandemic was an opportunity for terrorist groups to attract new followers. 2. The role of social networks in the radicalization process The first step in our research will be to establish the definition of radicalization to which we will refer throughout the research process. Radicalization is a concept that has been defined many times, which is why we have chosen to present the definition found in the law on preventing and combating terrorism 63 O.-C. Frățilă PhD Student, “Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy E-mail: nastase.catalina@animv.eu Technium Vol. 3, Issue 4 pp.63-66 (2021) ISSN: 2668-778X www.techniumscience.com