This document discusses how extremist ideologies like white nationalism are spreading through social media. It notes that these ideologies were traditionally limited to small isolated groups but the internet allows them to reach a much wider audience by circumventing restrictions from traditional media. Several studies are examined that show how white nationalist communities online actively link to each other and present themselves as legitimate sources of information. The document raises questions about how white nationalists are adapting to social media sites that restrict intolerant rhetoric and whether the internet has fundamentally changed how extremist ideologies develop and spread.

1. Dark Side of the Web: The Spread of Hate
Ideology Through Social Media
Victor Nguyen

2. White Nationalism in Traditional Media

Extremist ideologies exist in small pockets of the
population.

Limited by space

Hostile forces

Censored by traditional mass media

3. Why Are Extremists Coming to the Internet?

The Long Tail
− Market of ideas no longer limited by
spatial restrictions

Church-Sect Cycle
− Sects' ideologies often compromised over
time by assimilation into mainstream

Logic of congruence
− Extremist ideologies are legitimized on
individual scales by communal
conditioning

4. Studies I Examined
Source: Spinning the Web of Hate, Schafer

5. Studies I Examined
Source: Spinning the Web of Hate, Schafer

6. Studies I Examined
Source: Mining Communities..., Chau & Xu

7. Studies I Examined
Source: Mining Communities...,Chau & Xu

8. Studies I Examined
Source: Mining Communities...,Chau & Xu

9. Trends Within WN Communities

External linking practices linking to other WN sources

Sites presenting themselves as legitimate sources of
definitive information (often through outright lies)

WN communities often up to date with technological
trends and social media patterns

Later 2000s: Proliferation of WN groups from isolated
message forums into mainstream social networks

10. Questions

How are WNs coping with social media sites which
restrict intolerant rhetoric?

How has the Internet fundamentally altered the
historical patterns in which extremist ideologies have
developed?

The Internet now offers the opportunity for fledgling
extremists to cultivate their views, is this a necessary
evil that comes as a result of the structure of the
Internet? Or can this voice be eliminated without
negative repercussions for the mainstream?