The Transformation of Far-Right and Anti-Systemic Discourses in Four Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic

p>The final speaker in this ICA 2024 conference session is Frederik Henriksen, whose focus is on the transformation of far-right political activities on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. The far-right shifted the focus of its activities during this time, and joined forces with other anti-systemic actors, particularly pushing mis- and disinformation on the pandemic and the health measures implemented by governments to address it.

The present study sought to identify these discursive shifts in response to the pandemic, amongst far-right actors in Austria, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden and across multiple social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Gab, VKontakte, Reddit, YouTube, and Telegram. The bulk of data (30m posts) came from German-speaking accounts, with 9m from Sweden and 1.3m from Denmark during the 2019 to 2022 period.

Far-right messaging was coded for a number of typical far-right (Xenophobia, Islamophobia, etc.) and anti-systemic discourse dimensions (anti-globalism, anti-mainstream news messaging, etc.). With the onset of the pandemic at the start of 2020, far-right messaging actually declined for a brief period, while anti-systemic messaging rose substantially by late 2020 as lockdowns and other measures came into effect most strongly. German-language posts turned out to be especially strongly anti-systemic, while far-right messaging was more prominent elsewhere.

Accounts largely retained their emphases, however: anti-systemic accounts continued with anti-systemic posts, and far-right accounts consistently made far-right posts – so any changes in posting volumes across these messaging types are driven by the influx of new accounts rather than changes in existing account practices. Both type correlate on their authoritarianism, anti-progressive, and anti-COVID perspectives, however.

Whether these developments show a more substantive and permanent shift still needs to be determined, however. The rise of conspiracy discourse is notable, and this might also lead to increased polarisation, but whether this is sustained over the long term remains to be seen.