Alt-right pipeline

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The alt-right pipeline is a conceptual model regarding internet radicalization toward the alt-right movement. It describes a phenomenon in which consuming antifeminist or anti-SJW content increases exposure to the alt-right or similar right-wing extremism through algorithmic bias and online communities.

Process[]

Use of the internet allows individuals with heterodox beliefs to alter their environment, which in turn has transformative effects on the user. Influence from external sources such as the internet can be gradual so that the individual is not immediately aware of their changing understanding or surroundings. Members of the alt-right refer to this radicalization process as "taking the red pill" in reference to the method of immediately achieving greater awareness in The Matrix. This is in contrast to the gradual nature of radicalization described by the alt-right pipeline.[1]

YouTube has been identified as a major element in the alt-right pipeline. This is facilitated through an "Alternative Influence Network", in which various right-wing scholars, pundits, and internet personalities interact with one another to boost performance of their content. These figures may vary in their ideologies between conservatism, libertarianism, or white nationalism, but they share a common opposition to feminism, progressivism, and social justice that allows viewers of one figure to quickly acclimate to another.[2] Some individuals in this network may not interact with one another, but a collection of interviews, internet debates, and other interactions create pathways for users to be introduced to new content.[3] YouTube's algorithmic method of video suggestions also assists users in quickly finding new content similar to what they have previously watched, allowing users to more deeply explore an idea once they have expressed interest. When a user is exposed to certain content featuring certain political issues or culture war issues, this recommendation system may lead users to different ideas or issues, including Islamophobia, opposition to immigration, antifeminism, or reproduction rates. Recommended content is often somewhat related, which creates an effect of gradual radicalization between multiple issues, referred to as a pipeline. Radicalization also takes place in interactions with other radicalized users online, on varied platforms such as Gab, Reddit, 4chan, or Discord.[1]

The alt-right pipeline has been found to begin with the intellectual dark web community, which is made up of internet personalities that are unified by an opposition to identity politics and political correctness, such as Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, Dave Rubin, and Jordan Peterson. The intellectual dark web community overlaps and interacts with the alt-lite community, such as Steven Crowder, Paul Joseph Watson, Mark Dice, and Sargon of Akkad. This community in turn overlaps and interacts with the alt-right community, such as James Allsup, Black Pigeon Speaks, Varg Vikernes, and Red Ice.[3] The antifeminist Manosphere has been identified as another early point in the alt-right pipeline.[4] The same process has also been used to facilitate far-left radicalization. The internet community BreadTube developed through the use this pipeline process to introduce users to left-wing content and mitigate exposure to right-wing content. The pipeline process has been found to be less effective in spreading left-wing extremism due to the larger variety of opposing left-wing groups that may limit interaction and overlap.[5]

Psychological factors[]

The psychological factors of radicalization through the alt-right pipeline are similar to other forms of radicalization, including normalization, acclimation, and dehumanization. Normalization involves the trivialization of racist and antisemitic rhetoric. Individuals early in the alt-right pipeline will not willingly embrace such rhetoric, but will adopt it under the guise of dark humor, causing it to be less shocking over time. This may sometimes be engineered intentionally by members of the alt-right to make their beliefs more palatable and provide plausible deniability for extreme beliefs. Acclimation is the process of being conditioned to seeing bigoted content. By acclimating to controversial content, individuals become more open to slightly more extreme content. Over time, conservative figures appear too moderate and users seek out more extreme voices. Dehumanization is the final step of the alt-right pipeline, where minorities are seen as lesser or undeserving of life and dehumanizing language is used to refer to people that disagree with far-right beliefs.[1]

An openness to unpopular views is necessary for individuals to accept beliefs associated with the alt-right pipeline. It has been associated with contrarianism, in which an individual uses the working assumption that the worldviews of most people are entirely wrong. From this assumption, individuals are more inclined to adopt beliefs that are unpopular or fringe. This makes effective several entry points of the alt-right pipeline, such as libertarianism, in which ideologies attract individuals with traits that make them susceptible to radicalization when exposed to other fringe ideas.[6]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Munn, Luke (2019-06-01). "Alt-right pipeline: Individual journeys to extremism online". First Monday. doi:10.5210/fm.v24i6.10108. ISSN 1396-0466. S2CID 184483249.
  2. ^ Lewis, Rebecca (2018-09-18). Alternative Influence: Broadcasting the Reactionary Right on YouTube (Report). Data & Society.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Ribeiro, Manoel Horta; Ottoni, Raphael; West, Robert; Almeida, Virgílio A. F.; Meira, Wagner (2020-01-27). "Auditing Radicalization Pathways on YouTube". FAT* '20: Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency: 131–141. doi:10.1145/3351095.3372879. ISBN 9781450369367. S2CID 201316434.
  4. ^ Mamié, Robin; Horta Ribeiro, Manoel; West, Robert (2021-06-21). "Are Anti-Feminist Communities Gateways to the Far Right? Evidence from Reddit and YouTube". 13th ACM Web Science Conference 2021. WebSci '21. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery: 139–147. doi:10.1145/3447535.3462504. ISBN 978-1-4503-8330-1. S2CID 232045966.
  5. ^ Cotter, Kelley (2022-03-18). "Practical knowledge of algorithms: The case of BreadTube". New Media & Society: 146144482210818. doi:10.1177/14614448221081802. ISSN 1461-4448. S2CID 247560346.
  6. ^ Hermansson, Patrik; Lawrence, David; Mulhall, Joe; Murdoch, Simon (2020-01-31). The International Alt-Right: Fascism for the 21st Century?. Routledge. pp. 57–58. ISBN 978-0-429-62709-5.
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