COVID-19 Drives Conspiracy Theories and Islamophobia
The COVID-19 pandemic has been used as a weapon by the radical right in promoting conspiracy theories. For the past decade, I have been researching the impact of Islamophobia on social…
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Tommy Robinson
21 posts
Understanding the Dynamics of the Far Right
The extreme right is not a single entity but rather is a highly diverse, polycratic movement set across countless small organizations, or groupuscules. While this article is not about the…
The effects of censoring the far-right online
Berlin.- Adolf Hitler speaks at the Reichstag session in the Kroll Opera after the end of the Balkan campaign (Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-808-1238-05/Creative Commons) Since 2016, censorship of far-right groups and…
Halal Hysteria: How Outrage About M&S Ready Meals Co-opted Radical Right Rhetoric
The radical right is once again using the fact a food retailer has begun selling halal meat as an excuse to allege “creeping sharia law.” In October, M&S announced that…
Jekyll-and-Hyde: What Creates a Far-Right Supporter? Part 2.
Part 1 of this blog summarised current psychological theories relevant to understanding far-right personalities and behaviour. The following sections summarise the data on three non-violent far-right supporters, and analyse to…
Will online takedowns defeat the offline radical right?
This might be effective to counter frontmen like Tommy Robinson, but is it enough to tackle the wider ideology of the radical right? On Friday 13th September, radical right activist…
Debate over regulating right-wing extreme speech online must shift to harms such speech can cause
Prioritising free speech above the harms that extreme speech may cause has dominated the moderation strategies of social media platforms. Note: This piece was originally published at Scroll.in as part…
In Defense of Facebook’s “Ban” of the Far Right’s Dirty Dozen
In banning the far right from its platform, Facebook acted like a responsible media provider. In April, Facebook announced its decision to “ban” 12 UK-based individuals and organizations linked to the radical…
The DFLA: a(nother) new UK far right movement?
Britain’s far-right undertow turns hostile currents against ethnic and religious minorities into a tsunami of hatred. Pause a moment to register two unloved anniversaries. This spring marks a decade since…
The Far Right Has a History of Infiltrating the British Army
The far right recognizes the value, both in training and in terms of access to arms and equipment, that active and former soldiers bring to its organizations. In early October…