Friday 1st of December 10:15-12.00 in BET.C2.106
On the 1st of December, Tina Askanius and Jullietta Stoencheva from Malmö University will be giving a talk on “The Alternative Influence Network (AIN) of far-right YouTubers in Sweden”.
Abstract
Political influencers have become increasingly significant in today’s media landscape (Fischer et al. 2022). Particularly noteworthy is the emergence of a network of individuals, extra-parliamentary groups, and alternative media, promoting content ranging from mainstream conservatism all the way to overtly white supremacist ideas. These actors vary in their beliefs and values on the far-right spectrum, but unite in their opposition to progressive Western feminism, social justice, and left-wing politics, creating a collaboration system around these issues that Lewis (2018) dubs the “alternative influence network.” This study identifies central nodes in and maps the composition of the alternative influence network (AIN) on YouTube distinct to the context of Sweden. We ask: How are YouTube channels networked to form an AIN connecting the extra-parliamentarian far-right in Sweden? To what extent does the extra-parliamentarian far-right in Sweden connect across individual influencers, groups/organisations and alternative far-right news media? And finally, how do actors in the network engage in influencers practices combining commercial (self-)branding strategies, marketing and monetization schemes with political propaganda techniques?
The network analysis is based on a sample of YouTube channels which includes a combination of far-right groups (9), individual far-right influencers (32), and hyper-partisan/far-right alternative news media (11). In a first analytical step, drawing on the results of a network analysis of videos (n=8531), we show how these actors are connected by an interlocking series of connective practices including guest appearances on each other’s YouTube channels as well as a variety of referencing- and hyperlinking practices. We then engage in a qualitative case study examining the influencer practices of central nodes in the network to provide an in-depth examination of the various ways political influencers on the far-right intersperse business strategies with political propagation techniques.
Tina Askanius is an Associate Professor in media and communication studies at the School of Arts and Communication at Malmö University. Her research broadly concerns the relationship between social movements, media technologies and processes of mediation. Askanius holds a PhD in media and communication studies from Lund University, where she defended the thesis Radical Online Video. YouTube, video activism and social movement media practices in November 2012. The overarching question of how to understand the changing relationship between media, civic engagement and political mobilisations in an age of digital and ubiquitous media was at the heart of the doctoral thesis and still shapes her profile and orientation as a researcher today. Askanius’ publications mainly concerns the relationship between social movements and social media in the context of social justice movements including the climate justice movement and feminist movements, and extreme right movements, including the neo-Nazi movement.
Jullietta Stoencheva is a PhD candidate in Media and Communication Studies at Malmö University, Sweden. Her PhD project “Mainstreaming Extremism in Sweden and Bulgaria: Tracking, attuning and limiting the spread of extremist narratives” investigates the spread of extremist narratives by tracking their reach and engagement in online and offline environments. Using empirical data from fringe and mainstream social media platforms, online forums, and message boards, complemented by ethnographic field work in different localities across the Swedish region of Scania and across Bulgaria, her project seeks to assess the nature and scope of extremist narratives in, about, and between Bulgaria and Sweden and map how these travel between fringe, radical online communities, transcend into mainstream spaces, and contribute to offline activities and direct actions in local ecologies.
For more information about the event see [here].