On the Power of Social Networks to Analyze Threatening Trends

Despite their numerous advantages, social networks may be unfortunately employed for hate promotion or violence instigation. Thus, law enforcement agencies must pay close attention to these platforms to preserve public safety and detect threatening trends. To this extent, the article at hand discusses the role of social networks in today's social movements and presents the associated opportunities for monitoring, forecasting, and prevention. We document a practical use case, developed in collaboration with the Colombian Army, in which social media analysis and artificial intelligence play a crucial role in characterizing a national crisis.