Worse Than You Think: Update on the Extreme Right-Wing Infrastructure on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube in Germany

By Alexander Ritzmann

Key Findings  Research conducted by CEP Germany in September 2022 shows that a large portion of the “who’s who” of the (violence-oriented) German extreme-right are still present and active on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. They use those platforms to promote their merchandise stores, martial arts associations, music labels, bands, and prepper organizations to fund their extremist activities, reach new customers, and recruit new members. These key actors are the foundation of the (transnational) violence-oriented right-wing extremist (VRWE) milieus in Germany.  The terms of service of Facebook, Instagram and YouTube state that they will “not allow” white supremacy actors to use and benefit from their platforms.  This research builds on a CEP policy report from November 2021, which documented that many of the key right-wing extremist actors in Germany are active on major social media platforms. These key actors are pursuing a strategy of “extreme normalization,” where they no longer carry out explicitly illegal activities on mainstream social media to avoid being permanently blocked from the platforms.  CEP provided their research findings to Facebook and YouTube directly 13 months ago. The same global social media companies publicly commit to work against hate speech, extremism and terrorism e.g. at the EU Internet Forum, the Christchurch Call To Action, and the United We Stand Summit.  Why is this a serious problem? The described key right-wing extremist actors do not only promote dangerous conspiracy narratives like the “Great Replacement” or “White Genocide”, which postulates that a Jewish-led elite seeks to destroy the “white race” by means of mass migration of “non-whites”, feminism and LGTBQI+ rights. They also build the “Erlebniswelten” (spaces for collective experiences) like music concerts and festivals or mixed martial arts tournaments to further expand the reach of extreme-right milieus in Germany, which can lead to increasing political violence and stochastic terrorism. .

New York, Berlin, London: Counter Terrorism Project, 2022. 6p.