Far-right organizations, pioneers in online mobilization, embracing AI

How can society balance the fight against global far-right extremism online while safeguarding freedom of expression? This challenge has persisted since the 1980s and 1990s, and it remains unresolved today.

Long before artificial intelligence, platforms like Telegram and livestreams hosted by white nationalist figures were preceded by far-right groups early adoption of personal computers and the internet. These technologies offered a worldwide stage for spreading propaganda, inciting violence, and attracting international followers.

From Print to Digital

Before the digital era, far-right movements relied on printed materials for radicalization. They produced newsletters and distributed notorious texts, including Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf and William Pierces dystopian novel The Turner Diaries, which imagines a race war. These materials were mailed to supporters both domestically and abroad.

Historical research shows that much of the neo-Nazi literature circulating in Germany between the 1970s and 1990s originated from the United States, exploiting First Amendment protections to bypass German censorship. However, print-based propaganda was costly, time-consuming, and vulnerable to interception.

Computers and Bulletin Boards

With the rise of personal computers in the late 1970s, far-right extremists saw an opportunity to overcome these limitations. Leaders sought donations for computers, printers, and word-processing equipment, emphasizing that their adversaries already had access to technology.

By the 1980s, extremists began connecting via bulletin board systems (BBS), early networks that allowed users to exchange messages, files, and documents. The Aryan Nations Liberty Net, established in 1984, was one of the first far-right BBS networks. It allowed leaders and supporters to share strategies and resources digitally.

Alongside communications, extremists developed violent computer games that could be shared via BBS. One notorious example, the German game KZ Manager, simulated the management of a Nazi concentration camp, exposing young audiences to extremist ideologies. Surveys in the early 1990s showed a significant portion of Austrian high school students were aware of such games.

The Web Era

By the mid-1990s, the World Wide Web offered more accessible platforms than bulletin boards. Stormfront, founded in 1995 by white supremacist Don Black, became one of the first major hate websites. Research linked nearly 100 murders to the site. By 2000, Germany had blocked over 300 right-wing websites, while American extremists exploited U.S. free speech laws to host content abroad safelya tactic still in use today.

Artificial Intelligence as the Next Frontier

Far-right groups are now exploring AI to create sophisticated propaganda, manipulate multimedia, and evade detection. The social network Gab developed a chatbot modeled after Hitler for user interaction. Similarly, AI chatbots on other platforms have adopted extremist viewpoints, spreading antisemitic content and denying historical atrocities.

Global Response

Addressing online extremism requires international cooperation among governments, non-governmental organizations, tech companies, and communities. Far-right groups have consistently leveraged technological advancements to extend their influence, making it crucial for counter-extremism efforts to anticipate and respond to these evolving strategies.

Author: Lucas Grant