Spaces of Hybridized Prefatory Extremism (HYPE) on Social Media

Abstract

New trends in online extremism are currently unsettling the typical classifications used to assess violent threats to democratic societies. While extremism is usually perceived to be a matter of extreme ideologies and methods, social media enables and shapes distinct hybridization processes by which conspiracy beliefs, personal grievances, and various ad hoc convictions are combined with ideology fragments, consequently producing new extremist narratives. However, research into hybridized extremism has not yet accounted for the specific role of digital platforms and social media. This article develops the concept of hybridized prefatory extremism (HYPE) spaces to account for these recent changes and offers a heuristic framework for future studies to pinpoint the participatory engagement of digital publics in co-creating hybrid forms of extremism which may evolve into violent extremism. Based on five quantitative and five qualitative datasets collected through digital ethnography, the article identifies three domains, which shape HYPE spaces: (1) actors, (2) practices, and (3) content. Through these three domains, we are able to point to how emerging processes of hybridization of extremism are not only a matter of content hybridity, but also a hybridity of technologies, aesthetics, and participation. The conceptualization of HYPE spaces allows researchers and practitioners to carry out further empirical studies to elucidate the distinct role of social media in current trends of extremism and identify and monitor potential risks of hostile and violent action in online spaces.