Cyberhate: The Far Right in the Digital Age explores how right-wing extremists operate in cyberspace by examining their propaganda, funding, subcultures, movements, offline violence, and the ideologies that drive it. Scholars and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines and professions including criminal justice, psychology, cybersecurity, religion, law, education, and terrorism studies contribute to provide an extensive analysis of the far-right online political landscape. Specific topics include laws surrounding cyberhate, propaganda, bitcoin funding, online subcultures such as the manosphere, theories that explain why some take the path of violence, and specific movements including the alt-right and the terroristic Atomwaffen Division. Relying on manifestos and other correspondence posted online by recent perpetrators of mass murder, this book focuses on specific groups, individuals, and acts of violence to explain how concepts like "white genocide" and incel ideology have motivated recent deadly violence.
James Bacigalupo is a doctoral student in the criminology and justice studies program at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Kevin Borgeson is associate professor of criminal justice at Salem State University and former Research Fellow for the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Robin Maria Valeri is professor of psychology and Director of the Center for Nonviolence at St. Bonaventure University.
Chapter 1: Welcome to Cyberspace by Michael Hoffman Chapter 2: Looks Can Be Deceiving: The Challenges of Recognizing Hate in Cyberspace by Robin Maria Valeri Chapter 3: Is Hate Against the Law? Legal Responses to Cyberhate by Janine Fodor Chapter 4: Bitcoin: The Currency of White Supremacists by John Bambenek Chapter 5: Accelerating Hate: Atomwaffen Division, Contemporary Digital Fascism, and Insurrectionary Accelerationism by Michael Loadenthal, Samantha Hausserman, and Matthew Thierry Chapter 6: When Cyberhate Turns to Violence: White Nationalism to the Manosphere by Kevin Borgeson and James Bacigalupo Chapter 7: The Alt-Right: Breaking into the Mainstream by James Bacigalupo and Kevin Borgeson Chapter 8 Responding to Cyberhate by James Bacigalupo
This is an important book at just the right time. We are seeing an increase in hate crimes nationally and an increase in the role the internet is playing in encouraging bias motivated violence. The authors have described in a clear but detailed way the techniques internet sites and social media platforms use attract and retain visitors as well as the ways organized hate groups have used cryptocurrency to fund their organizations. This is a very important book for police, prosecutors and policy makers who are on the front lines fighting against hate and violence. -- Jack McDevitt, Northeastern University
