Open AccessFascist cross-pollination of Australian conspiracist Telegram channels
Author(s) -
Gerard Gill
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
first monday
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.533
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1396-0466
pISSN - 1396-0458
DOI - 10.5210/fm.v26i12.11830
Subject(s) - exploit , ideology , situational ethics , covid-19 , population , political science , pandemic , media studies , sociology , history , computer security , law , computer science , politics , demography , medicine , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about trauma and uncertainty for vast swathes of the world population, including in Australia. One effect of this has been the growth of COVID-19 conspiracy theories, and general conspiracism. This article explores efforts by fascists and neo-Nazis to exploit the rise in conspiratorial thinking for recruitment and dissemination of their ideas. Five Australian conspiracist Telegram channels are studied for signs of fascist cross-pollination, and it is found that users with fascist sympathies attempt to influence the channels’ discourse through appeals to purported ideological and situational commonalities.