The Gift of Gab: A Netnographic Examination of the Community Building Mechanisms in Far-Right Online Space
Abstract
Major social media platforms have recently taken a more proactive stand against harmful far-right content and pandemic-related disinformation on their respective sites. However, these actions have catalysed the growth of fringe online social networks for participants seeking right-wing content, safe havens, and unhindered communication channels.
With large amounts of data removed from popular virtual platforms and users congregating in laxly moderated right-wing echo chambers, these developments have created an environment of self-isolated far-right content. To better understand these isolated systems of online activity and their success, I focus on the predominantly right-wing platform Gab.
Guiding the study is the research question: What are the mechanisms utilised by the far-right to form an alternative collective on fringe social media? I provide an explanation by examining how these online communities are built by sharing and curating specific collective-building media in conjunction with the users' communicative experiences. The study offers a first-of-its-kind experiential examination of the different narratives and multimedia within the platform via a Netnographic and Qualitative Content Analysis lens, examining how this curated content helps create its lasting community base and enables Gab's success as a social media network.
Outlining these mechanisms provides an entirely novel approach to understanding the different facets of identity, framings, and themes utilised as the basis for forming a radical collective.