My Girlfriend Became Neo-Nazi: The Right's Presence and Activity in the Internet

Author(s): Castro-Rea, Julian | Abstract: This paper discusses the role that the right’s presence on the internet has played in this ideology’s rise to popularity and its successful attempts at winning elections. It highlights the main messages that specialized websites and the public chat groups available over Twitter, Facebook and Instagram spread around selected issues, such as climate change, immigration, gay rights, and race in Canada; in an attempt to determine the direction that they want to give to public debate on those matters. Based on the case study of the spring 2019 provincial elections in Alberta, Canada, I test the hypothesis that the frequency and radical features of messaging distributed by right-wing websites and chat groups in social media increase around election times, as an expression of a sustained and successful effort at influencing the vote along their ideological direction.