The ‘tarrant effect’: what impact did far-right attacks have on the 8chan forum?

Abstract

This paper analyses the impact of a series of mass shootings committed in 2018-2019 by right-wing extremists on 8chan/pol, a prominent far-right online forum. Using computational methods, it offers a detailed examination of how attacks trigger shifts in both forum activity and content. We find that while each shooting is discussed by forum participants, their respective impact varies considerably. We highlight, in particular, a "Tarrant effect": the considerable effect Brenton Tarrant's attack of two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, had on the forum. In the double context of the rise in far-right terrorism and the growing and diversifying online far-right ecosystem, such interactive offline-online effects warrant the attention of both scholars and security professionals.

The Radicalisation Spectrum: How an Individual’s Susceptibility to Influence – Not Ideology – Incubates Radicalisation Towards Non-violent and Violent Extremism

“…Anders Breivik, for example, by publishing a manifesto coinciding with his 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway, became an extremist influencer and his manifesto has spawned numerous copycat extremist cascades, with those influences resulting in numerous terrorist attacks. 10 Dylann Roof 11 and Brenton Tarrant 12 are other examples of absent but highly influential extremist influencers. In these instances, like-minded extremist influencers perform a tactical role in extremist cascade formation and maintenance to further the strategic intent of their absent idol.…”

Scattered Attacks: The Collective Dynamics of Lone-Actor Terrorism

“…An example of this “self-referential” pattern is the cluster of lone actors in one way or another following “in the footsteps” of Anders Behring Breivik. The perpetrators of a number of far-right extremist attacks—including those in Charleston, USA (June 2015); Munich, Germany (July 2016); Christchurch, New Zealand (March 2019); Poway, USA (April 2019); El Paso, USA (August 2019); Baerum, Norway (August 2019); and Halle, Germany (October 2019)—explicitly referenced Breivik and his 2011 attack, with subsequent attacks in this same sequence further acknowledging one another as well as deliberately seeking to inspire future attacks, leading to the consolidation of an increasingly interlinked narrative (see, inter alia, Baele, Brace and Coan 2023; Macklin 2022; Macklin and Bjørgo 2021; Ware 2020).…”

Anões, chads e nazipardos: as estratégias de nomeação e predicação no discurso da direita-alternativa no Brasil

“…Imageboards são fóruns online cuja característica fundamental é a criação de fios de discussão temáticos acompanhados de uma ampla utilização de recursos imagéticos. Os exemplos mais significativos são 8kun, Endchan, Neinchan, 16chan e, com maior destaque, tanto em influência geral quanto em número de usuários, o 4chan (Baele;Brace;Coan, 2021). Esse último fórum, objeto desta análise, é dividido em boards 1 temáticos, que definem os tipos de discussão realizadas por seus usuários, or-ganizados nas categorias: cultura japonesa, videogames, interesses, criatividade, miscelânea e adulto, conforme são apresentados na página inicial.…”

“…Assim, com base nas ferramentas dispostas pela Abordagem Histórico-Discursiva (Wodak;Reisigl, 2016) no âmbito geral dos Estudos Críticos do Discurso (Wodak;Meyer, 2016), propomos uma análise das estratégias de nomeação e predicação dos atores sociais no discurso a fim de compreender de que modo processos linguísticos de seleção e inovação lexical endêmicos à plataforma criam representações próprias do eu e do outro nas interações materializadas nesse espaço. Para isso, devemos pontuar que a plataforma apresenta discussões recorrentes com temáticas étnicas e raciais, com detalhamento acerca de características fenotípicas e genéticas (Baele;Brace;Coan, 2021;Mittos et al, 2020), evidenciando atitudes e posturas notadamente racistas.…”