Policing of the Far-Right Online: The Cases of the UK and Hungary

Abstract

Far-right groups have increasingly been able use and weaponize the online space for activism, especially in regard to create radicalizing effects that lead to political violence. This article explores how policing communities are treating far-right groups online, what strategies they’ve been using, and the effect this has on far-right activism. Using interviews with practitioners and key in-depth case studies of far-right groups in the U.K. and Hungary, what it finds overall is that policing communities are increasingly using more sophisticated tactics to combat far-right content. In the future, this research advocates for more transparency about tactics and reasoning behind policing strategies used in the online space.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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14 T. Grumke, “Globalized Anti-Globalists: The Ideological Basis of the Internationalization of Right-Wing Extremism,” in Right-Wing Radicalism Today: Perspectives from Europe and the US, ed. S. Von Mering and T. W. McCarty (London: Routledge, 2013), 13–22.

15 C. Froio, and B. Ganesh, “The Transnationalisation of Far Right Discourse on Twitter,” European Societies, 2018, DOI: 10.1080/14616696.2018.1494295.

16 J. Ebner, and J. Davey, The Fringe Insurgency: Connectivity, Convergence and Mainstreaming of the Extreme Right (London: ISD, 2017).

17 C. Colliver, P. Pomerantsev, A. Applebaum, and J. Birdwell, Smearing Sweden: International Influence Campaigns in the 2018 Swedish Election (London: ISD, 2018); J. Ebner, and J. Davey, The Fringe Insurgency: Connectivity, Convergence and Mainstreaming of the Extreme Right (London: ISD, 2017); J. Ebner, and J. Davey, Mainstreaming Mussolini: How the Extreme Right Attempted to ‘Make Italy Great Again’ in the 2018 Italian Election (London: ISD, 2018).

18 ISD, The Battle of Bavaria: Online information campaigns in the 2018 Bavarian State Elections (London: ISD, 2019).

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20 T. C. Helmus, and K. Klein, Online Campaigns Countering Violent Extremism: A Case Study of the Redirect Method (Washington, DC: Rand Corporation, 2018), https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2813.html.

21 J. Ebner, “Counter-Creativity: Innovative Ways to Counter Far-Right Communication Tactics,” in Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right: Online Actions and Offline Consequences in Europe and the US, ed. M. Fielitz, and N. Thurston (Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2019), https://www.transcript-verlag.de/en/detail/index/sArticle/4371?number=978-3-8394-4670-6.

22 GIFCT Website, “About Our Mission”, https://gifct.org/about/.

23 J. Bartlett, “Why 2019 will be the Year of the Online Extremist, and What to do About it,” in 2019: Challenges in Counter-Extremism, ed. B. Hoffman (London: Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, 2019).

24 Five interviewees were based in the UK and one in Hungary. Difficulties in interviewee recruitment and a lack of state apparatus facing the far-right in Hungary made efforts extremely difficult.

25 S. M. G. Otner, “Most Different Systems Design,” in Encyclopedia of Case Study Research, eds. A. J. Mills, G. Durepos, and E. Wiebe (London: SAGE, 2010).

26 C. Hope, “BNP Website is the Most Popular in Politics”, Daily Telegraph, Sept 13, 2007, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1562960/BNP-website-is-the-most-popular-in-politics.html.

27 Birmingham Live, “Racist’ BNP Website Closed Down”, June 15, 2006, https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/racist-bnp-website-closed-down-23452.

28 N. Copsey, The English Defence League: Challenging Our Country and Our Values of Social Inclusion, Fairness and Equality (London: Faith Matters, 2010). P.5.

29 Ibid. P.25.

30 P. Jackson, The EDL: Britain’s ‘New Far Right’ Social Movement (University of Northampton: RNM Publications, 2011).

31 A. Brindle and C. MacMillan, “Like and Share If You Agree: A Study of Discourses and Cyberactivism of the far right British national party Britain First,” Journal of Language, Aggression, and Conflict 5, no. 1 (2017): 108–133; N. Copsey, The English Defence League: Challenging Our Country and Our Values of Social Inclusion, Fairness and Equality (London: Faith Matters, 2010).

32 J. Giordano, “James Goddard: Yellow vest organiser arrested in London,” The Independent, Jan 12, 2019, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/yellow-vests-james-goddard-arrest-london-march-westminster-mps-abuse-soubry-far-right-a8724491.html.

33 UK Government, “Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006”, at:  www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/1/contents.

34 UK Crown Prosecution Service, “Hate Crime,” www.cps.gov.uk/hate-crime.

35 BBC News, “Sadiq Khan launches London online hate crime hub,” April 24, 2017, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-39692811; Home Office, “Home Secretary Announces New National Online Hate Crime Hub,” Gov.uk, Oct 8, 2017, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-secretary-announces-new-national-online-hate-crime-hub.

36 UK Government, “Investigatory Powers Act 2016,”http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2016/25/contents/enacted

37 Home Office (n.d.), “Factsheet – Targeted Equipment Interference,” https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/473740/Factsheet-Targeted_Equipment_Interference.pdf; UK Government, “Investigatory Powers Act 2016,” http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2016/25/contents/enacted.

38 UK Government, “Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000,” https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/23/contents

39 Participant 2, Interview with William Allchorn, January 23, 2019, Leeds, UK, Telephone.

40 Ibid.

41 Participant 3, Interview with William Allchorn, January 22, 2019, Leeds, UK, Skype.

42 Participant 4, Interview with William Allchorn, January 28, 2019, Leeds, UK, WhatsApp.

43 Participant 5, Interview with William Allchorn, January 29, 2019, Leeds. Telephone.

44 J. Davey, J. Birdwell, and R. Skellett, Counter Conversations: A Model for Direct Engagement with Individuals Showing Signs of Radicalisation Online (London: ISD, 2018), https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Counter-Conversations_FINAL.pdf.

45 Participant 1, Interview with William Allchorn, January 24, 2019, Leeds, UK, Telephone.

46 J. Bartlett, J. Birdwell, P. Krekó, J. Benfield, and G. Győri, Populism in Europe: Hungary (London: Demos, 2012), https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/populism-europe-hungary#publications_download.

47 Ibid.

48 ATV, “Sorban törli a Facebook a többezres Jobbik-közeli csoportokat [Facebook is systematically deleting groups associated with Jobbik”, Feb 8, 2016, http://www.atv.hu/belfold/20160208-sorban-torli-a-facebook-a-tobbezres-jobbik-kozeli-csoportokat.

49 HVIM, “Hatvannégy Vármegye Ifjúsági Mozgalom [Sixty-Four Counties Youth Movement]”, Feb 8, 2016, Feb 8, https://www.hvim.hu/.

50 G. M. Nagy, “Levágott és karóra húzott iszlám fejű szoborral üzeni a határról Toroczkai László, hogy megállítjuk a menekülteket [László Toroczkai sends a message from the border through a statue featuring a decapitated Islamic head on a spike that they will stop the refugees],” Magyar Narancs, Sept 4, 2017, https://magyarnarancs.hu/kismagyarorszag/levagott-es-karora-huzott-iszlamfejjel-uzeni-a-hatarrol-toroczkai-laszlo-hogy-meg-tudjuk-magunkat-vedeni-a-menekultektol-106248.

51 J. Farrell, “Defend Europe: Anti-Immigrant Ship Trying to Block Refugees from Crossing Mediterranean Has Funding Cancelled”, The Independent, Aug 14, 2017, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/defend-europe-finding-patreon-refugee-boats-mediterranean-sea-c-star-migrants-right-wing-ngo-rescue-a7891946.html.

52 M. Townsend, “Far Right Raises £50,000 to Target Boats on Refugee Rescue Missions in Med”, The Guardian, June 4, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/03/far-right-raises-50000-target-refugee-rescue-boats-med.

53 L. Fekete, “Hungary: Power, Punishment and the ‘Christian-National Ideal’”, Race and Class, 57, no. 4 (2016): 39–53.

54 S. Mihelj, V. Štětka, and K. Kondor, “Audience Engagement with COVID-19 News: The Impact of Lockdown and Live Coverage, and the Role of Polarization,” Journalism Studies, 23, no. 5–6 (2022): 569–587, doi: 10.1080/1461670X.2021.1931410

55 Participant 6, Interview with Katherine Kondor, February 14, 2019, Budapest, Hungary, Face-to-Face.

56 Ibid.

57 Ibid.

58 Ibid.

59 Ibid.

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid.

63 Ibid.

64 N. Lomas, “Germany Tightens Online Hate Speech Rules to Make Platforms Send Reports Straight to the Feds,” Tech Crunch, June 19, 2020, https://tcrn.ch/2PuEN53.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

William Allchorn

Dr William Allchorn ([email protected]) is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Policing Institute for the Eastern Region at Anglia Ruskin University (Chelmsford). He is an expert on anti-Islamic radical right social movements in the UK and Western Europe. His book, Anti-Islamic Protest in the UK: Policy Responses to the Far Right, was released in 2018 with Routledge. His next monograph on the Global Far Right has recently been released by Ibidem, an imprint of Columbia University Press.

Katherine Kondor

Dr Katherine Kondor is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo and a Visiting Fellow in Media and Illiberalism at Loughborough University. She studies recruitment practices and pathways into far-right organizations, particularly in the Hungarian far-right. Katherine has published on the Hungarian far-right, online extremism, the use of the digital space in the study of the far-right, and audience engagement with media.