Variations on a Theme? Comparing 4chan, 8kun, and Other chans’ Far-Right “/pol” Boards

Baele, Stephane;Brace, Lewys;Coan, Travis
(2021) Perspectives on Terrorism — Vol. 15, n° 1, p. 65-80 (2021)

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Authors
  • Baele, Stephaneorcid-logoDepartment of Politics, University of Exeter, Devon, South West England, UK;
    Author
  • Brace, Lewysorcid-logoDepartment of Sociology, Philosophy, and Anthropology, University of Exeter; Devon, South West England, UK
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  • Coan, Travisorcid-logoDepartment of Politics, University of Exeter, Devon, South West England, UK;
    Author
Abstract
Online forums such as 4chan and 8chan have grown in notoriety following a number of high-profile attacks conducted in 2019 by right-wing extremists who used their "/pol" boards (dedicated to "politically incorrect" discussions). Despite growing academic interest in these online spaces, little is still known about them; in particular, their similarities and differences remain to be teased out, and their respective roles in fostering a certain far-right subculture need to be specified. This article therefore directly compares the content and discussion pace of six different /pol boards of "chan" forums, including some that exist solely on the dark web. We find that while these boards constitute together a particular subculture, differences in terms of both rate of traffic and content demonstrate the fragmentation of this subculture. Specifically, we show that the different /pol boards can be grouped into a three-tiered architecture based upon both at once how popular they are and how extreme their content is.
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Baele, S., Brace, L., & Coan, T. (2021). Variations on a Theme? Comparing 4chan, 8kun, and Other chans’ Far-Right “/pol” Boards. Perspectives on Terrorism, 15(1), 65-80. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/277148 (Original work published 2021)