Normalizing Right-Wing Extremism Online: The Case of the Ottawa Freedom Convoy


Deena Abul-Fottouh, Dalhousie University

The rise of right-wing extremism (RWE) in many western democracies is cause for alarm. Efforts by major social media companies to constrain the spread of RWE has forced far-right leaders and influencers to explore new narratives and rhetorical tools to diffuse their ideas online. They started to tone down their rhetoric and penetrate other existing movements to normalize their discourse and be accepted in the public sphere. Most existing research looks at online RWE through studying their blogs, far-right channels, or social media accounts of far-right known figures. However, much less is known about how right-wing extremist ideas and conspiracy are transmitted and adopted in online spaces and venues that are not necessarily affiliated with the far right but rather are shared by the public. In this research, we study how RWE usurps existing movements to get their narratives more mainstream. The case of the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa, Canada in 2022 epitomizes this. During the COVID-19 pandemic, online expressions of far-right narratives have risen dramatically. However, there is disagreement—both among pundits and scholars—about what activities should be considered far-right extremism and what should count as non-extremist activism. As part of the Freedom Convoy, protestors claimed that their goals to rescind emergency measures put in place to reduce the spread of COVID—or even to demand the resignation of the Prime Minister—were well within the bounds of ordinary politics. By contrast, critics denounced the protest as giving voice to extremists – pointing to leaders’ affiliations with extremist groups, the spread of far-right narratives, and the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories among protestors as evidence of extremism. By looking at the case of the 2022 Freedom Convoy online, we gain new insight into the spread of right-wing extremist ideas online. We specifically ask: 1- Who are the LEADERS of the Freedom Convoy online and what are their relationships to the far-right? 2- What is the extent of the spread of far-right NARRATIVES among the supporters of the Freedom Convoy online? 3- What is the extent of circulation of MISINFORMATION AND CONSPIRATORIAL narratives by the supporters of the Freedom Convoy online? The proposed project is nestled within and will contribute to the theoretical framework of online right-wing extremism which draws on three key developments: the circulation and diffusion of far-right discourse in everyday lives on social media platforms, the rise of the alt-right as a lighter version of extremist far-right, and the immersion of far-right discourse in conspiratorial beliefs that found fertile grounds online during the pandemic. We use a two-pronged computational social science methodological approach of network analysis and natural language processing to study the diffusion of RWE through X (formerly Twitter). We use a Twitter dataset collected from #IStandWithTruckers, a Twitter hashtag that clearly advocates for the Freedom Convoy. To answer research question 1, we use network analysis measures commonly associated with influence and diffusion on the Twitter networks (e.g., degree and betweenness centralities) to determine the influencers in both the Twitter mentions and retweets networks and then identify whether they affiliate with the far-right. To classify the narratives shared and whether they include far-right narratives (research question 2), we conduct a content analysis of the most shared tweets in the #IStandWithTruckers retweet network and in the timelines of influencers that were identified by network analysis. To answer research question 3 and study the diffusion of misinformation and conspiratorial beliefs, we first use network analysis to determine the most shared URL domains in the Twitter networks. We then use Media Bias Fact check to determine the veracity of those domains and their inclination to the far right. This research presents innovative methods to identify right-wing and online conspiracy and to detect the broadcasters of right-wing extremist discourse online.

Non-presenting authors: Tina Fetner, McMaster University; Clifton van der Linden, McMaster University

This paper will be presented at the following session: