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Alt Right

The Alt Right is a far-right political movement that emerged in the United States in the early 2010s. It is characterized by its white nationalist, anti-immigration, and anti-establishment views. The Alt Right also promotes a range of conspiracy theories, including those related to race, gender, and religion. It has been associated with various extremist groups such as neo-Nazis and white supremacists. The Alt Right has gained traction in recent years due to its use of social media platforms such as Twitter and Reddit to spread its message. It has been linked to several violent incidents in the United States, including the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The term "alt-right" was popularized in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election in the United States, and the movement gained significant attention and controversy for its role in supporting the candidacy of Donald Trump and for the violent rallies, such as the Unite the Right rally in 2017, that some of its members have participated in. The Alt Right movement began in 2008 with the emergence of the online forum 4chan. It was here that users began to discuss and share far-right ideologies, such as white nationalism, anti-feminism, and anti-immigration. This online community quickly gained traction and began to spread its message through various social media platforms. As the movement grew, it became more organized and vocal in its opposition to mainstream politics. By 2016, the Alt Right had become a major force in American politics, playing a significant role in Donald Trump's election victory.

It began as a reaction to the perceived cultural and political dominance of progressive values and characterized by a rejection of mainstream conservatism and a desire to return to traditional values. The movement was largely composed of young, white men who sought to promote their own interests and worldviews through online forums and social media. They were seeking to establish a white ethno-nationalist state and protect traditional social institutions and hierarchies, which led to an increase in hate speech, racism, and xenophobia among its members. As the movement grew in size and influence, it began to attract attention from mainstream media outlets and politicians. Donald Trump's presidential campaign also provided a platform for many of the Alt Right's ideas which further increased its visibility.

The alt right movement had a number of main events that helped to shape its identity and spread its message. One of the most notable was the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. This event brought together a variety of far-right groups, including neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and members of the alt right. The rally was met with widespread condemnation and sparked a national conversation about racism and white supremacy. Another key event was the 2016 election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. Trump's candidacy was seen by some as a victory for the alt right movement, which had supported him throughout his campaign. Some have argued that the "alt-right" helped to amplify Trump's message and bring attention to issues important to the movement, such as immigration and political correctness. Additionally, some members of the "alt-right" used social media to spread false and misleading information to sway public opinion in favor of Trump. Finally, there have been several online campaigns launched by members of the alt right to spread their ideas on social media platforms. These campaigns have been successful in amplifying their message and gaining followers.

The effects of the alt right movement have been far-reaching and have had highly visible and controversial impacts on politics and society, bringing hatred and divisiveness to a variety of political, social, and religious areas. By both creating and exacerbating divides between various groups, the alt-right has had drastic consequences and fundamentally altered the political atmosphere of our society. The alt right has been linked to an increase in hate crimes, as well as a rise in white nationalist rhetoric. It has also been linked to an increase in online harassment and trolling, as well as the spread of false information. The alt right has also had a major influence on the political landscape, with many politicians adopting its rhetoric and policies in order to appeal to its base. Ultimately, the alt right has had a significant impact on American culture and politics, and it is likely to continue to do so for years to come.

One direct impact the alt-right has had is a rise in hate crimes against members of the LGBTQIA+ and Latino communities. In 2017, the FBI found that hate crimes against Hispanics had surged by nearly 15%, while those against the LGBTQIA+ population had risen by 5%. The targeted messaging and racism of the alt-right towards individuals within these communities cultivates further prejudice which may result in violence against these groups. The alt-right has also caused an increase in white nationalism and racism in the United States. Ideas behind white nationalism such as the belief that whites are superior to everyone else and should therefore rule a society can be traced directly to alt-right rhetoric and activities. As the alt-right pushes for a white ethno-state, there has been a corresponding stabilization and acceptance of white nationalism, leading to much of the racism and prejudice seen in our society today.

The alt-right has also had an indirect effect in the form of enabling uncivil discourse between those with opposing views. As the alt-right continues to spread hatred and racism, it has legitimized and emboldened those who share the same hateful views to express themselves freely. As a result, many of these individuals have become much more vocal, aggressive, and unapologetic in conversations with those they disagree with. This has regrettably led to a much more tense and hostile environment in many of our public discourse platforms.

The alt-right is a movement with serious negative repercussions. Through its impact on hate crimes, white nationalism, uncivil discourse, and mainstream politics, the alt-right has fundamentally reshaped the political and social atmosphere of our society in an unfavourable way. It has led to further racial and social divides, created an aggressive, hostile environment and enabled racism and white nationalists to further spread their toxic ideologies. Many of the ideas and strategies developed by the alt-right have been adopted by mainstream politicians. Many of the tactics used by the alt-right, such as “dog-whistling” or using veiled language to signal support for white nationalists, can be seen in the rhetoric of many of these politicians. The alt-right has led to a more hostile and divided political atmosphere, as politicians have used the alt-right’s divisive messaging to gain support from their most extreme supporters.

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GamerGate is a controversial movement that began in 2014. It mainly involved gamers critical of certain aspects of the video game industry, as they felt their interests were not adequately represented in the media. They launched a harassment campaign directed at several women in the gaming industry, including game developers, journalists, and critics. Some members of the movement have been criticized for engaging in intimidation tactics towards individuals in the gaming industry, particularly women and members of marginalized communities. The controversy also sparked a larger conversation about the representation of women and minorities in the gaming industry, and the treatment of these groups by the gaming community.

Many women were targeted with harassment and extreme threats of violence. The main targets of this were usually people that spoke out about issues of sexism and progressivism in the gaming industry. They were attacked in many horrifying ways. Many women received rape and death threats, often highly specific and detailed and were intended to intimidate and terrorize them. Some of the individuals targeted by the movement had their personal information published online without their consent, including addresses and phone numbers. This made them even more vulnerable to further harassment and abuse. Bomb threats were made at several video game related events, including the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and the XOXO Festival, causing evacuations and cancellations. Some of the individuals targeted by the movement had false reports of emergencies made to the police, intending to have a SWAT team sent to their homes. Many of the individuals targeted by the movement were subjected to sustained harassment campaigns, which included a range of tactics including online harassment, trolling, and "brigading" (coordinated attacks on social media and forums).

Overall, the GamerGate controversy was marked by a prominent level of toxicity and hostility, and the individuals targeted by the movement faced severe and prolonged abuse. It had a terrifyingly chilling effect that caused many women in the industry to quit their jobs and go into hiding. This is not an uncommon experience either, as a study by the Pew Research Center in 2014 found that 40% of women who play games online have experienced harassment, with the majority of it being related to their gender

This controversy was a complex and multifaceted movement, with many key moments and developments. Here are some of the most notable:

August 2014: It began when game developer Zoe Quinn's ex-boyfriend posted a long blog post accusing her of having a romantic relationship with a journalist in exchange for positive coverage of her game. This sparked a wave of harassment and abuse directed at Quinn, which would later expand to include other women in the industry.

October 2014: Game developer Brianna Wu and feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian were forced to flee their homes after receiving death threats. This brought national attention to the issue of online harassment and the role of GamerGate in perpetuating it.

November 2014: The FBI announced that it was launching an investigation into the harassment and abuse directed at individuals in the video game industry.

January 2015: Intel announced that it would no longer advertise on gaming websites that had been associated with GamerGate. This was seen as a significant victory for those targeted by the movement and for those calling for an end to the harassment.

February 2015: Game developer Phil Fish had his personal information leaked and his games removed from the internet by hackers. This was seen as a continuation of the harassment and abuse directed at individuals in the video game industry.

March 2015: The United Nations released a report on online violence against women, which specifically cited GamerGate as an example of the problem.

August 2015: The Crash Override Network, a support and advocacy group for individuals targeted by online harassment, was founded by Zoe Quinn and Alex Lifschitz.

2016: The movement started to decrease, and most key figures left the scene.

One of the most notable effects of Gamergate was the way it brought attention to the problem of online harassment, particularly directed at women and minorities. Many individuals targeted by the movement spoke out about the abuse they experienced, which helped to raise public awareness about the issue. Additionally, the controversy highlighted the role of the media in shaping public perceptions of online harassment, and the urgent need for more effective solutions to address it, such as stronger laws and better enforcement of existing laws. Some critics argue that the media’s coverage of it was inadequate, and that it helped perpetuate the abuse directed at the women involved. This led to a greater focus on media ethics and the responsibility of the media to cover these types of issues accurately and responsibly.

In general, the Gamergate controversy also drew attention to the intersection of technology, culture, and politics and the impact of social media on each of them. It revealed the ongoing culture war between progressive and conservative groups in the tech industry and society which led to greater focus on the laws, media ethics and solutions to online harassment. Additionally, it has led to some changes in the game journalism industry, such as stricter guidelines for ethical conduct and disclosure of conflicts of interest. Some of the key figures in the movement progressed to have a significant presence in far-right politics and have been involved in other controversies.

While it is difficult to say that Gamergate officially ended as it has no clear leader or central organization, the intensity of the movement has died down significantly since it first emerged in 2014. A range of factors contributed to this, including increased media coverage of the harassment and abuse, which led to greater public awareness of the issue and condemnation of the movement's tactics. Additionally, social media companies and other online platforms took steps to crack down on the harassment and abuse that was being directed at women in the gaming industry. While the movement may have lost steam, its impact can still be felt in the industry. The conversation about inclusion and diversity in the gaming industry continues and some of the issues that Gamergate brought to light are still being addressed today.

It is important to note that this harassment during Gamergate was not accepted throughout the movement, and widely condemned by many in the gaming industry and beyond. There were numerous efforts to combat this and support the victims, such as the formation of the “Crash Override Network,” a group that fought to raise awareness while providing assistance and resources to people who were targeted. They also assisted victims with documenting, reporting, and mitigating the abuse, restoring their digital footprints, and repairing their online identities and reputations.

The movement has been widely condemned for its association with misogyny and harassment, while some claim it was a movement about ethics in video game culture. It has also been deemed the most unnecessarily aggressive and harmful movement in the history of modern technology. Although the gaming community can still be toxic to women, we can still see the positive effects of Gamergate today, especially regarding inclusivity in the media.

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QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory that began in 2017 with the anonymous posting of messages on the internet forum 4chan.

The core QAnon conspiracy theory is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic, sexual abusers of children operating a global child sex trafficking ring conspired against former U.S. President Donald Trump during his term in office. QAnon followers believe that this cabal is made up of deep-state government officials, celebrities, and business leaders involved in many types of corruption. The conspiracy theory also includes a belief in a coming “great awakening” and the restoration of “true” American values.

The QAnon conspiracy theory has direct roots in Pizzagate, an Internet conspiracy theory that appeared one year earlier; it also incorporates elements of many other theories. Some experts have described QAnon as a cult. Followers of the conspiracy theorists say that the Trump administration secretly fought the cabal of pedophiles, and would conduct mass arrests and executions of thousands of cabal members on a day known as "the Storm" or "the Event.” QAnon is also sometimes described as antisemitic or rooted in antisemitic tropes, due to its fixation on Jewish financier George Soros and conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family, a frequent target of antisemites.

Although QAnon has its origins in older conspiracy theories, the first post by Q was in October 2017 on the anonymous online forum, 4chan. Q claimed to be a high-level government official with Q clearance, who had access to classified information involving the Trump administration and its opponents in the United States. Q soon moved to 8chan, making it QAnon's online home. The conspiracy theory expanded into a viral phenomenon and quickly went beyond Internet culture, becoming familiar among the general population and turning into a real political movement.

QAnon followers began to appear at Trump re-election campaign rallies in August 2018, and Trump amplified QAnon accounts on Twitter through his retweets. QAnon followers have perpetrated acts of violence on numerous occasions. Members of the movement actively took part in the 2020 United States presidential election, during which they supported Trump's campaign and waged information warfare in an attempt to influence voters. After Joe Biden won, they were involved in efforts to overturn the results of the election. Several associates of Trump, such as General Michael Flynn and two members of his legal team, Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, have promoted QAnon-derived conspiracy theories. When these tactics failed, Trump supporters – many of them QAnon followers – attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Capitol attack was a watershed moment for QAnon and led to a further, more sustained social media crackdown on the movement and its claims.

The QAnon community helped spread other rumours such as the "Frazzledrip" theory, which purported the existence of a "snuff" video showing Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin murdering a child, drinking her blood and taking turns wearing the skin from her face as a mask. This was meant to depict  an ‘adrenochrome harvest’ in which adrenalin is extracted from children's blood to produce the psychoactive drug adrenochrome. One version of the QAnon theory posits that the child abusers use adrenochrome as an elixir to remain young. Evidently the theories and conspiracies that circulate on QAnon are clearly very violent and graphic images that have clear malicious intent.

Multiple online communities have been created around QAnon: in 2020, Facebook conducted an internal investigation that revealed that the social network hosted thousands of QAnon-themed groups and pages, with millions of members and followers. According to Reuters, Russian-backed social media accounts promoted QAnon claims as early as November or December 2017. In 2018, Time magazine called Q one of the 25 most influential people on the Internet.

Pastel QAnon, identified by Concordia University researcher Marc-André Argentino, is a subculture within the core conspiracy theory movement that is characterised by a focus on more “positive” and “hopeful” messages and imagery, often using pastel colours and cute imagery. It’s used to try and attract more female followers on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Telegram and YouTube. It co-opts the aesthetics and language of social media influencers, often using personal anecdotes and gateway issues (i.e. child sex-trafficking) to frame QAnon beliefs as reasonable. This helps QAnon gain attention and followers, and as framing their beliefs as reasonable, their harmful and malicious intentions are looked over.

Experts have classified QAnon's appeal as comparable to those of religious cults. According to an expert in online conspiracy, Renee DiResta, QAnon's pattern of enticement is similar to that of cults in the pre-Internet era where, as the targeted person was led deeper and deeper into the group's secrets, they become increasingly isolated from friends and family outside the cult. Online support groups developed for those whose loved ones were drawn into QAnon, notably the subreddit r/QAnonCasualties, which grew from 3,500 participants in June 2020 to 28,000 by October. In the Internet age, QAnon virtual communities have little "real world" connection with each other, but online they can number in the tens of thousands. QAnon's cultish quality has led to its characterization as a possible emerging religious movement. It has also been called a syncretic movement.

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4chan is an anonymous online forum where people can discuss and share images and information on a wide variety of topics. It was created in 2003 by a 15-year-old boy named Christopher Poole and has since become a hub for the creation and spread of internet memes, hoaxes, and other forms of digital culture. Because of its anonymous nature and the fact that anyone can post content without registering an account, 4chan has a reputation for being a breeding ground for controversial and offensive material, including hate speech and illegal activities. It has also been used to coordinate and organise online attacks and harassment campaigns against individuals and organisations.

The "4chan effect," also known as the "Streisand Effect," refers to the phenomenon whereby an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information or media only serves to publicise it more widely. This can occur when the censorship itself becomes newsworthy, or when the efforts to suppress the information draw attention to it. The term "4chan effect" specifically refers to the role that the online forum 4chan has played in popularising memes, hoaxes, and other types of information that have been spread through the internet. The effect is caused by a combination of factors. One is the sheer size and reach of the internet, which allows information to spread rapidly and widely. Another is the anonymous nature of many online platforms, which allows people to share information and ideas without fear of retribution or consequences. Additionally, the news media's tendency to cover sensational or controversial stories can contribute to the spread of information and contribute to the "4chan effect." Finally, the desire of many people to be the first to share a piece of news or information, or to be part of a phenomenon, can also contribute to the rapid spread of information.

The "4chan effect," is known as the "Streisand Effect," as it is named after Barbra Streisand, an American singer and actress where in 2003, Streisand sued photographer Kenneth Adelman and Pictopia.com for posting a photograph of her Malibu, California home on their website as part of a collection of 12,000 aerial photographs. The lawsuit attracted widespread media attention and led to the photograph being viewed over 420,000 times. The incident became known as the "Streisand Effect," as Streisand's efforts to have the photograph removed only served to publicise it more widely.

Some examples of the 4chan effect which have relations to political issues are:

In 2008, a Georgia man named Brian Thompson filed a lawsuit against 4chan, claiming that the site was responsible for distributing child pornography. The lawsuit attracted widespread media attention and caused many people to visit 4chan for the first time, leading to a surge in traffic on the site.

In 2012, a hoax about a supposed "rape festival" in India spread rapidly on social media and was widely covered in the media. It was later traced back to a 4chan thread in which users had made up the story as a prank.

In 2014, the celebrity Jennifer Lawrence had personal photos leaked online after her iCloud account was hacked. Many of these photos ended up on 4chan, and the leak became known as "The Fappening." Which then started to include pictures of multiple celebrities as well as Jennifer Lawrence. The widespread media coverage of the leak likely only served to draw more attention to the stolen photos. The leaked photos were initially posted on the anonymous online forum 4chan and subsequently spread to other websites and social media platforms. Many of the photos were taken from the celebrities' iCloud accounts and were intended to be private. The leak caused significant controversy and led to the involvement of law enforcement agencies, who eventually arrested and charged a man in connection with the hack. The incident led to a wider discussion about privacy and security on the internet. This was probably one of the most notable examples of the 4chan effect.

Some have argued that the spread of false or misleading information on 4chan and other online platforms has contributed to the erosion of trust in the media and has made it more difficult for people to distinguish between fact and fiction.

Additionally, 4chan has been used to coordinate and organise online harassment campaigns and "trolling" efforts, which have targeted politicians and other public figures. The anonymity of the platform has made it difficult to track down those responsible for such campaigns and has contributed to a toxic and polarising online environment.

It's worth noting that while 4chan has been involved in the spread of false or harmful information and has been used to coordinate online attacks, it is not the only platform that has been used for these purposes, and it is not representative of all political discourse on the internet.
Anonymous is a loosely organised international group of hackers, activists, and internet users who are known for participating in high-profile cyber attacks and other online actions. While Anonymous has no official membership or leadership structure, the group is known for its use of the tag "Anonymous" and the "Guy Fawkes" mask, which has become a symbol of the group.

Anonymous first gained attention in 2003 on the online forum, where the group was known for participating in "raids" on other websites and forums. In these raids, Anonymous members would flood a site with traffic or post inflammatory or offensive content in order to disrupt the site or draw attention to a particular issue.
The group's most notable early example of 'hacktivism' was in 2008, when 4chan users under the leadership of early Anonymous hacker Gregg Housh launched a coordinated attack against the Church of Scientology using tactics like denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on the church's websites, prank phone calls, and faxing the church's black pages to waste their printer ink. The hacker collective called the attacks "Project Chanology," and they were in response to what they saw as an attempt at censorship, as the church had threatened legal action against Gawker after the news site broadcast a hacked clip of star Tom Cruise speaking enthusiastically about Scientology. A wave of anti-Scientology protests across the globe quickly followed, with many Anonymous-supporting demonstrators wearing masks of the 17th-century British insurrectionist Guy Fawkes. Since then, the hacker group has developed a strong association with those masks.

Over time, Anonymous has evolved and taken on a more political and activist orientation, participating in high-profile cyber attacks against governments, institutions, and companies. The group has also been involved in more traditional forms of activism, such as organising protests and demonstrations. While Anonymous has no central leadership or organisation, it is known for its decentralised and autonomous structure, with individual members operating independently but coordinating through online communication channels.