In recent years, fascists and white supremacists have emerged from the darkest corners of the internet onto the streets – and into the halls of power. The movement’s activists are being radicalised online, and driven to acts of atrocity like those carried out in Utoya, Pittsburgh, and Christchurch. It is a movement that has both distinctly modern qualities, while being rooted in a very old political ideology.
How does fascist radicalisation take place on the internet? How does the fascist echosphere operate? Understanding this resurgence will help us not just to stop it, but also to realise how urgent the struggle against white supremacy and fascism is.
In a talk given at the University of Auckland, Emmi Bevensee talks about her doctoral research into fascist radicalisation online.
Emmi Bevensee is a doctoral student at the University of Arizona. She is studying machine learning and disinformation, and is the author of the studies ‘The Alt-Right and Global Information Warfare’ and ‘We Built An Algorithm to Track Bots in the European Elections’ published by The Independent.
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Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this lecture reflect the views of the lecturer and not necessarily the views of The Big Q.
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