Title: Examining the Online Expression of Ideology among
Far-Right Extremist Forum Users
Authors: Holt, Thomas J.,
Joshua D. Freilich, and Steven M. Chermak
Date: 07 Jan 2020
Journal: Terrorism and Political Violence
Abstract:
Over the last decade, there has been an
increased focus among researchers on the role of the Internet among actors and
groups across the political and ideological spectrum. There has been particular
emphasis on the ways that far-right extremists utilize forums and social media
to express ideological beliefs through sites affiliated with real-world
extremist groups and unaffiliated websites. The majority of research has used
qualitative assessments or quantitative analyses of keywords to assess the
extent of specific messages. Few have considered the breadth of extremist
ideologies expressed among participants so as to quantify the proportion of
beliefs espoused by participants. This study addressed this gap in the literature
through a content analysis of over 18,000 posts from eight far-right extremist
forums operating online. The findings demonstrated that the most prevalent
ideological sentiments expressed in users’ posts involved anti-minority
comments, though they represent a small proportion of all posts made in the
sample. Additionally, users expressed associations to far-right extremist
ideologies through their usernames, signatures, and images associated with
their accounts. The implications of this analysis for policy and practice to
disrupt extremist movements were discussed in detail.
Source: https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2019.1701446