Article by Prof. Cornelius Puschmann on Right-wing Extremist Narratives and Influencers in BzKJAktuell

Prof. Cornelius Puschmann, head of the Digital Communication and Information Diversity Lab, has co-authored an article with Sophia Rothut (LMU Munich) and Darian Harff (KU Leuven) in the current issue of BzKJAktuell (02/2024), the journal of the Federal Agency for Child and Youth Media Protection (BzKJ). The article, entitled “Right-wing extremist narratives and social media influencers”, examines the dissemination of right-wing extremist content by social media influencers (SMIs) and their impact on the political decision-making of children and young people. Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Telegram are increasingly being used by far-right actors to address young target groups. SMIs play a central role in this by embedding political messages in entertaining formats and thereby promoting radicalization. This article analyzes the usage patterns of young people, the role of SMIs and the strategies used by far-right actors to spread their ideology. Strengthening young people’s media skills and developing counter-strategies is described as a strategy to combat the spread of extremist content.