Online Hate: From the Far-Right to the ‘Alt-Right’ and from the Margins to the Mainstream

Winter, Aaron

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-12633-9_2

Online Hate: From the Far-Right to the ‘Alt-Right’ and from the Margins to the Mainstream

Aaron Winter⁴

Chapter
First Online: 24 April 2019

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Part of the Palgrave Studies in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity book series (PSCYBER)

Abstract

In the 1990s and early 2000s, there was much discussion about the democratic and anti-democratic implications of the Internet. The latter particularly focused on the ways in which the far-right were using the Internet to spread hate and recruit members. Despite this common assumption, the American far-right did not harness the Internet quickly, effectively or widely. More recently, however, they have experienced a resurgence and mainstreaming, benefitting greatly from social media. This chapter examines the history of their use of the Internet with respect to: (1) how this developed in response to political changes and emerging technologies; (2) how it reflected and changed the status of such movements and their brand of hate; and (3) the relationship between online activity and traditional methods of communication.

Keywords

Alt-right
Far-right
Online Hate
Racism
Misogyny

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Criminology, University of East London, London, UK
Aaron Winter

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Independent Researcher, Leicester, UK
Dr. Karen Lumsden
Department of Communication and Media, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
Dr. Emily Harmer

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Winter, A. (2019). Online Hate: From the Far-Right to the ‘Alt-Right’ and from the Margins to the Mainstream. In: Lumsden, K., Harmer, E. (eds) Online Othering. Palgrave Studies in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12633-9_2

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12633-9_2
Published: 24 April 2019
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-12632-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-12633-9
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