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REMVE RESEARCH SERIES FACT SHEET: The European Far-Right Online: An Exploratory Twitter Outlink Analysis of German & French Far-Right Online Ecosystems

Abstract

This fact sheet provides a snapshot of findings from a RESOLVE Research Report exploring European far-right online ecosystems and racially- and ethnically motivated violent extremist (REMVE) exploitation within them. Findings from the report provide insight into the outlinking activity of identified pro-far-right followers of the official Twitter accounts of two prominent far-right European political parties, Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) and France’s Rassemblement National (RN). Ecosystem(s)-based analyses is crucial in understanding the extent to which broader far-right and REMVE online activities and interactions might actually overlap. The report uses the term "far-right” to describe ideas and actors situated on the “right-wing” of the global political spectrum and sharing a “core ideology of nationalism, xenophobia, welfare chauvinism, and law and order” (Mudde, 1995). It does not presuppose a direct relationship or association between the groups, ideologies, content, and individuals it is used to define. “REMVE” is used to refer to specific, fringe subset of the far right, comprised of far-right individuals, groups, movements, or content that explicitly legitimate, promote, or support violence. To learn more about the research methodology and detailed findings, please refer to the RESOLVE Research Report by Stuart Macdonald, Kamil Yilmaz, Chamin Herath, J.M. Berger, Suraj Lakhani, Lella Nouri, & Maura Conway: The European Far-Right Online: An Exploratory Twitter Outlink Analysis of German & French Far-Right Online Ecosystems (2022).