Below are posts associated with the “far-right” tag.
some thoughts on Gab pushback against research on Gab
I’m not going to link to it, but I am fascinated by a recent post on the Gab blog where Andrew Torba announced some new features to help Gab users push back against research on the platform. Not only do I have two or three ongoing projects using Gab data (one is in the very, very early stages and—ironically—uses Gab blog posts), but some of what Torba wrote also aligned with some of the (fortunately mild) trolling my co-author, Amy Chapman, and I have experienced because of my work on the far-right-influenced DezNat hashtag in Mormon Twitter. So, I thought I’d write up some of what stood out to me in the post.
🔗 linkblog: Texas GOP's new platform says Biden didn't really win the 2020 election : NPR'
I get that some of this is bluster and posturing, but that doesn’t make it any less worrying. This is the same state GOP that leaned into Gab a year or two ago.
🔗 linkblog: A far-right plan to riot near an Idaho LGBTQ event heightens safety concerns at Pride : NPR'
Given the aggressively queerphobic language I’ve read on Gab, events like this are worrying but not surprising. More worrying is the way that this queerphobic language is increasingly used in the mainstream GOP. How do Republican politicians and voters feel about these events?
🔗 linkblog: Two-Thirds of Republicans Believe Great Replacement Theory, New Poll Shows'
GOP has some reckoning to do.
interview with WEKU on Buffalo shooting and social media content moderation
Last week, I was interviewed by a reporter at WEKU about social media and content moderation in the context of the horrific recent shooting in Buffalo, and I was pleased to see the interview appear on the WEKU website this morning.
I wish that the headline didn’t frame this as a question of “free speech”—and that I’d perhaps been more forceful in emphasizing that these really aren’t questions of free speech so much as content moderation. I’m also a bit disappointed that our conversation about 4chan in the early part of the interview got cut; I get why (probably not as interesting to the average viewer than some of my more generally-reaching comments), but I also think it’s important to understand that there are these dark places out there on the internet and that they are leading to tragedies like Buffalo.
📚 bookblog: La présidente, Tome 3 (❤️❤️❤️🖤🖤)
Like its predecessors, this volume was interesting, and I appreciated what it had to say, but there was just too much that was weird about it for me to really love it. I don’t regret reading it, but I have no plans to buy the physical versions like I thought I might in the past.
The story seemed to get more and more speculative over time, and while I appreciated the intent, it just felt like more and more of a stretch, which felt like it weakened the goals of the author. The art was still weird, and things came off as overly didactic. The main characters lost more and more of the spotlight and their personalities, simply becoming vehicles for ideas.
📚 bookblog: La présidente, Tome 2 (❤️❤️❤️🖤🖤)
I read this volume of the series much faster than the last one—perhaps because it was new to me and perhaps because the second round of the election motivated me to finish it—though I clearly won’t finish the series before today’s results were announced.
Thematically, I thought the book was stranger. It put more emphasis on how laws and politics established under mainstream parties could become terrifying in the hands of far right extremists. It was also helpful for learning more about other elements of France’s far right.
🔗 linkblog: The Far-Right Is Doxxing School Officials They Think Are “Groomers”'
This matches rhetoric I’m reading while doing research on Gab. We need respectable conservative movements in the U.S., but our contemporary mainstream right is flirting with these ideas instead of denouncing them. It’s troubling
🔗 linkblog: Présidentielle 2022 : le ralliement d'Eric Zemmour gêne la stratégie de camouflage de Marine Le Pen'
Faut pas oublier ces liens quand-même.
🔗 linkblog: Extremist Republicans like Ammon Bundy face opposition from moderates : NPR'
Keeping an eye on France’s elections in April and then Idaho’s in May, I guess.
🔗 linkblog: LGBTQ advocates raise alarm against trans attacks in Ky. legislature – 89.3 WFPL News Louisville'
I have spent a few hours this week reading violently anti-trans posts as part of a research project. My patience for queerphobic dog whistles disguised as feigned concerns about girls’ sports is at zero. So disappointed in the Kentucky legislature.
🔗 linkblog: QAnon Isn’t Dead, It’s Growing'
Worrying stuff here. Right-wing media consumption appears to be the big predictor for QAnon beliefs.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Sedition Prosecution Of Oath Keepers Members Shows The FBI Can Still Work Around Encryption | Techdirt'
We can prosecute criminals without weakening encryption.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Banned from Facebook and Twitter, far right groups are still a presence online. : NPR'
Interesting read on a subject I expect to be following for a while.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Trump's 'Big Lie' endures and poses a threat to U.S. democracy : NPR'
Unhappy reading for the holidays.
🔗 linkblog: just finished '‘Q’ Has Been Quiet, but QAnon Lives On - The New York Times'
Looks like QAnon is going to be around for a while. Worrying stuff.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Proud Boys Regroup Locally to Add to Ranks Before 2022 Midterms - The New York Times'
Very worrying. Underlines the importance of local politics.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Twitter policy aimed at improving privacy sparks concerns over misuse : NPR'
File this under bad solutions to worse problems.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'How Steve Bannon Has Exploited Google Ads to Monetize Extremism — ProPublica'
Another reason to be wary of automated ad exchanges.