Expose, debunk, ridicule, resist! Networked civic monitoring of populist radical right online action in Finland

ABSTRACT

This article analyses civic monitoring that targets online radical right populist anti-immigration activism in Finland to discuss whether outsourcing monitoring to platform users is a feasible means to respond to exclusionary-populist online communication. For several reasons, the widely discussed – and potentially harmful – phenomena related to the emancipation of radical right populist online counterpublics have proved difficult to control. First of all, using exclusionary and antagonistic rhetoric or spreading disinformation is not illegal, which makes policing it ineffective. Second, journalistic scrutiny tends to increase the salience of radical right agendas without significantly curbing their appeal. Third, social media companies have passed down responsibility for monitoring extremism on their platforms to users. As an option, it has been suggested that users could organize to push potentially harmful content to the margins of online publics. The study reveals that the materiality of online anti-immigration action allows it to be monitored by anti-racist activists to a certain extent, and that online action aimed at resisting online radical right activism ranges from civil counter-arguing and pursuing of deliberation to anti-racist hate speech and naming-and-shaming campaigns. There are notable caveats that undermine the efficacy and viability of civic monitoring as a means of watching over radical right populist online action. The main problems are related to the connective and potentially anti-populist nature of the civic monitoring – allowing it to be counter-surveilled and used as fuel for populist online communication – and potential danger and harm to the activists involved.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media
• activism
• anti-racism
• populism
• radical right
• surveillance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Niko Hatakka is a researcher at the Centre for Parliamentary Studies at the University of Turku, Finland. His research focuses on online right-wing populist counterpublics and their interaction with institutional politics, activism and the media [email: [email protected]].

Notes

1 The Finns Party was formerly known as the True Finns. The party changed its English name in 2011.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Jenny ja Antti Wihurin Rahasto [grant number 00170071].