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

  • Aaron Winter
Chapter
First Online:
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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© The Author(s) 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  • Aaron Winter
    • 1
  1. 1.CriminologyUniversity of East LondonLondonUK

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