Abstract
Dog whistling, a form of symbolic communication through seemingly innocuous terms is a common practice for members of far-right movements. This chapter examines how dog whistling was used on Twitter during the 2016 presidential election through a virtual ethnographic approach. Dog whistling serves to circumvent censorship by automated moderation, and adapts historical markers of the far-right as well as symbols used in other media to work within Twitter’s affordances. Thus, Twitter is employed as a channel to spread hate and signal belonging among far-right communities. In doing so, creative use is made of the platform’s technology, in the face of the site’s moderation techniques, to convey white supremacist ideas to a broader audience while staying under the radar of detection.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Twitter, the public sphere, and the chaos of online deliberation |
Editors | Gwen Bouvier, Judith Rosenbaum |
Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
Chapter | 7 |
Pages | 151-172 |
Number of pages | 23 |
ISBN (Print) | 9783030414214 |
Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Externally published | Yes |
Research programs
- ESHCC M&C