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VOX-Pol Blog Post.

VOX-Pol Blog Post.

VOX-Pol Blog Post.

Graph analytics has become instrumental in uncovering insights across various domains, specifically in social networks. It serves as a crucial tool for analyzing the relationship between users in different online platforms. In this research, we apply methods of social network analysis to examine the communication patterns among participants in an online forum recognized for far-right extremism. Our study demonstrates the actors’ relationships and activities through different aspects of applications over networks. In extensive analysis, we identify the influential actors and map their relationships throughout the course of 76 monthly networks. Moreover, we illustrate the evolution of networks over that period, and their connections with significant events. The findings of this analysis aim to understand the nature of interactions and networks, and to allow practitioners to take necessary precautions to mitigate far-right activities on various online platforms.

This study investigates how a far-right extremist group, The Base, enacts communicative resilience (CR) strategies across digital platforms despite deplatforming efforts. In our empirical analysis, we conducted a content analysis of 69 conversations about bans that occurred in The Base’s encrypted chatrooms on Matrix and Wire between 2018 and 2020. We examined if and how the CR processes outlined in the communication theory of resilience (CTR) applied to far-right extremists groups operating online. Our analysis shows that deplatforming, while disruptive, triggers CR processes that activate collaborative discovery of new methods to remain resilient. Additionally, we discovered an additional, online performative process of persistent presence in response to a perceived constant, existential threat. That strategy demonstrates operational capacity, reinforces group-based identities, accrues social capital, and performs a proven capacity to challenge detractors. By assessing The Base’s online dynamics, this study contributes to broader conversations on mediated CTR, deplatforming, extremism, and the role of CR in political legitimation.