The German right-wing scene on Instagram – a problem for democracy?

Research shows how the right-wing scene uses Instagram for their own advantage and to spread propaganda. But what does this mean for democracy?

An entry by Lisa Merz and Nele Hardt

Monday, August 09, 2021

Instagram is the number one

The results of the ARD/ZDF online study 2020 are quite conclusive: Facebook was overtaken by Instagram regarding the daily use for the first time last year, 15 percent of the population used Instagram daily (2019: 13 percent). Facebook, on the other hand, lost a significant 21 percent compared to 2019. Among under 30-year-old people, the use of Instagram (65%) is far ahead of the other social media offerings, the study showed.

This means that Instagram plays a crucial role in the communication and spread of a variety of content – from fashion, lifestyle, beauty, but also increasingly of political content – and is therefore also a target for the right-wing scene and related movements like the “Identitäre Bewegung” (IB) or the youth organisation “Junge Alternative” (JA) of the right-wing populist party “Alternative für Deutschland”.  According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the IB is a “secured right-wing extremist organisation” & the Young Alternative has been classified as a “suspicious case” of an extremist organisation since January 2019 and is therefore also under observation. What both have in common is that these actors are very present on social media but their network and mechanisms haven’t been researched in a detailed way.

Correctiv and their research project

The research centre Correctiv dealt with this issue on their research project “Kein Filter für Rechts” – a detailed description about how the right-wing scene uses Instagram to recruit especially young people. Main questions were: Who interacts with whom? What are the most popular hashtags and identifiers of right-wing extremists and how are political topics discussed and debates influenced? One of the key challenges was that Instagram prevents third parties from gaining access to the data that are on the platform. To get an insight into the world of the right-wing and right-wing extremists on Instagram, the research team had to set up their own Instagram profile with a fake name.

Using the snowball method, they collected a sample of 4,501 accounts and achieved many insights regarding different aspects:

• How thousands of rights exploit Instagram’s vulnerabilities
• How right-wingers use Instagram make money
• The hashtags, emojis and codes of the right-wing scene on Instagram
• The AfD and its links to right-wing extremists
• Right-wing memes: modern Propaganda on Instagram

Their results show how the German right-wing movement has formed a big network on Instagram around the AfD-party. They also explore how the movement abuses the weak spots of the platform as well as the algorithm.

Over time, the movement has developed different strategies on how to spread seemingly harmless pictures and hashtags for propaganda and even for monetary profit. But while Correctiv was able to detect these structures through extensive research, Instagram itself is not prepared to fight against them. There are too many secret codes inside the movement that make it hard for the platform to keep up and regulate this kind of content. Especially because right-wing propaganda is often disguised in the form of funny images (memes), sports events, music, and lifestyle accounts. By holding up a seemingly normal and harmless image to the public, the movement is able to slowly drag people into the scene. Once a user starts interacting with the content and certain accounts, the algorithm of Instagram will suggest related posts with similar messages. Without noticing, a user might be dragged into a filter bubble of the right-wing scene, which could eventually lead to a radicalization, since the user feels like these opinions are valid and many other people agree with them.

A danger to democracy?

But what does this mean for an upcoming election and for democracy? On the 26^th of September, the election of the 20^th German Bundestag will take place. This election will set the path for the upcoming four years of politics by deciding which parties will lead the country in the future. With important topics like Covid-19 pandemic as well as the climate crisis at hand, the big parties try to position themselves and gain the voters’ attention.

While election campaigns have been shifting more and more to the internet over time, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought typical campaigns on marketplaces to a sudden halt; thus forcing parties and their leaders to start campaigns online. Of course, this offers opportunities to gain new followers and voters online who would have been unavailable through classical election campaigns.

The Federal Statistical Office estimated that about 60.4 million Germans living in the country will be entitled to vote in September, with approximately 2.8 million young people who get to cast their vote in the elections to the Bundestag for the first time. In order to reach these first-time voters, political parties try to establish a presence on Social Media platforms like Instagram or TikTok. This year, 53 parties can participate in the election, but seven big parties are currently in the Bundestag, competing for the most votes. Additional to that, the results of the election will also set the path for the election of the next chancellor.

Among these parties is the AfD, placed in the political far-right. As Correctiv’s research has shown, the AfD and their followers are well connected on Instagram.

The problem with this is that a lot of the content in the network looks normal at first glance, but it actually disguises a really racist, anti-Semitic or even seditious ideology. It is known that parts of the movement are officially right-wing extremists and therefore a potential threat to democracy. So when this right-wing movement is able to gain more attention during the election campaign, it could strengthen parties like the AfD, and consequently their right-wing extremist supporters, who try to undermine our democracy.

More details and our sources can be found in our presentation.

Sources for this entry:

Preview Picture: Feyissa, S. (2020). person holding black samsung android smartphone photo [Photograph]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/KWZa42a1kds

Header Picture: Schwarzenberger, M. (2014). Wahlen Deutschland Flagge [Photograph]. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/de/photos/wahlen-deutschland-flagge-450164/

Screenshot: see our presentation

Literature:

Correctiv’s research:

Eckert, T., Echtermann, A., Steinberg, A., Diaz, C., & Kommerell, C. (2020, November 26). Kein Filter für Rechts. Correctiv. https://correctiv.org/top-stories/2020/10/06/kein-filter-fuer-rechts-instagram-rechtsextremismus-frauen-der-rechten-szene/#wie-tausende-rechte

Eckert, T., Echtermann, A., Steinberg, A., Diaz, C., & Kommerell, C. (2020, November 17). Daten, Daten, Daten: So sind wir vorgegangen. Correctiv. https://correctiv.org/top-stories/2020/10/06/kein-filter-fuer-rechts-instagram-rechtsextremismus-daten-so-sind-wir-vorgegangen/#daten-daten-daten-so-sind-wir-vorgegangen

About the Bundestag election:

The Federal Returning Officer. (2021). Election to the 20th German Bundestag on 26 September 2021. https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/bundestagswahlen/2021.html

The Federal Returning Officer. (2021). 2021 Bundestag Election: 60.4 million people entitled to vote. https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/info/presse/mitteilungen/bundestagswahl-2021/01_21_wahlberechtigte-geschaetzt.html

The Federal Returning Officer. (2021). 53 parties can participate in the 2021 Bundestag Election. https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/info/presse/mitteilungen/bundestagswahl-2021/14_21_1bwa-entscheidung.html