Platformed antagonism: racist discourses on fake Muslim Facebook pages

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview of Facebook pages.

Name	Time period (in 2015)	Lifespan (in days)	Posts	User Comments
Sharia in Denmark	30/03–28/04	30	1	48
Islam – The Religion of Peace	06/04–17/05	42	29	788
Peaceful Muslims	23/04–10/05	18	0	2
Ali El-Yussuf [1]	04/06–08/06	5	7	3372
Ali El-Yussuf [2]	11/06–22/06	12	17	3159
Ali El-Yussuf [3]	16/06–22/06	7	3	3
Mohammed El-Sayed	30/06–02/07	3	5	3851
Fatimah El-Mohammed	01/07–02/07	2	1	23
Zarah Al-Sayed	02/07–02/07	1	2	5
Mehmet Dawah Aydemir [1]	09/09–12/09	4	12	10,426
Mehmet Dawah Aydemir [2]	13/09–15/09	3	0	72
In Total:	–	–	77	21,749

Table 2. Three-step analytical process.

Phase	Data	Methodological questions	Methodological description
1. Nodal points	77 Facebook posts, ‘about’ sections, and images.	What are some of the main signifiers holding together the discourse?	Read data material and highlight key signifiers throughout.
2. Chains of equivalence/difference	77 Facebook posts, ‘about’ sections, and images.	How are these nodal points connected to other signifiers? What kind of argumentative logics do they form?	Re-read and annotated the texts, examining how nodal points are linked to other signifiers.
3. Reactions	User comments	How do users react to the discourse constructed by the Facebook pages?	Quantify most used words across comments. Read through data material and highlight key signifiers.

Figure 1. Facebook page of Ali El-Yussuf [1].

Figure 2. Pictures of burning Danish flags on two fake Muslim Facebook pages. (© Ritzau Scanpix/Nasser Ishtayeh/AP).

Figure 3. Two Facebook posts by Mehmet Dawah Aydemir [1].

Table 3. The articulation of Muslims and Danes on the studied Facebook pages.

Nodal points	Muslim	Muslim	Dane	Dane
Articulated by	Facebook pages	Users	Facebook pages	Users
Chains of Equivalence	Violence Exploitation Hypersexuality Conspiracy Incompatibility	Stupidity Violence Exploitation Hypersexuality Incompatibility	Passivity Naiveté Victimhood Femininity	Strength (Counter-) aggression Patriotism Masculinity