“Memeifying fascism: on chan digital culture and the production of intersecting antisemitism and Islamophobia”

Cathrine Moe Thorleifsson

Researcher, Center for Extremism Research: Right-wing extremism, hate crime and political violence

In this presentation I examine how the anonymous users of the imageboard site 4chan /pol/ produce and promote fascist violent imaginaries online. I suggest that the echo chamber structure of /pol/, where core conspiracy theories and memes are amplified and reinforced inside a closed, transnational milieu, while for some users are sources of counterculture, trolling and lulz, lends itself to violent cyberfascism.  Based on analysis of memes and threads produced between the Christchurch terror attack in March 2019 and the Bærum terror attack in September 2019, I suggest that intersecting antisemitic and islamophobic enemy images are integral to the great replacement conspiracy theory. Moreover, intersecting cyberfascism inform target selection and calls for accelerating violence against Jewish and Muslim minority communities.