1. Dark Side of the Web: The Spread of Hate
Ideology Through Social Media
Victor Nguyen

2. White Nationalism in Traditional Media

Extremist ideologies exist in small pockets of the
population.

Limited by space

Hostile forces

Censored by traditional mass media

3. Why Are Extremists Coming to the Internet?

The Long Tail
− Market of ideas no longer limited by
spatial restrictions

Church-Sect Cycle
− Sects' ideologies often compromised over
time by assimilation into mainstream

Logic of congruence
− Extremist ideologies are legitimized on
individual scales by communal
conditioning

4. Studies I Examined
Source: Spinning the Web of Hate, Schafer

5. Studies I Examined
Source: Spinning the Web of Hate, Schafer

6. Studies I Examined
Source: Mining Communities..., Chau & Xu

7. Studies I Examined
Source: Mining Communities...,Chau & Xu

8. Studies I Examined
Source: Mining Communities...,Chau & Xu

9. Trends Within WN Communities

External linking practices linking to other WN sources

Sites presenting themselves as legitimate sources of
definitive information (often through outright lies)

WN communities often up to date with technological
trends and social media patterns

Later 2000s: Proliferation of WN groups from isolated
message forums into mainstream social networks

10. Questions

How are WNs coping with social media sites which
restrict intolerant rhetoric?

How has the Internet fundamentally altered the
historical patterns in which extremist ideologies have
developed?

The Internet now offers the opportunity for fledgling
extremists to cultivate their views, is this a necessary
evil that comes as a result of the structure of the
Internet? Or can this voice be eliminated without
negative repercussions for the mainstream?