Digital Dog Whistles: Far-Right, Populist and ‘Incel’ Propaganda on TikTok and Meta
Platforms Post-inauguration – A Growing Threat to the Western World?
04/03/2025 - Written by Edward Wilson
Introduction
In the ancient parable of the Trojan Horse, the city of Troy, locked in conflict with the Mycenaeans, welcomed in a seemingly harmless gift, only to later discover the destructive forces concealed within. Across the contemporary Western world, a similar dynamic is unfolding—not with wooden constructs, but through the pervasive influence of short-form internet content. Disguised as innocuous memes, trends, and montages, far-right, populist, and ‘incel’ ideological propaganda across mainstream social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter), and Meta, is now deeply embedded in the digital fabric of online culture. Following President Trump’s inauguration, observers suggest that Meta and X have heavily censored left leaning posts, whilst boosting engagement with far-right creators. More alarming however, is the populist, far-right, and ‘incel’ trends emerging across these platforms. By the time the influence of this content becomes apparent, the potentially irreversible damage caused to societal and cultural cohesion, and national security may already be profound. The questions remain - how can we dismantle the threat of this digital propaganda? And what are the consequences currently facing the Western World? —a world increasingly characterised by digital socialisation, wherein the power of influence is exponentially concentrated in the hands of a trio of technocrats. In analysing these salient issues, this report examines the role of short form, far right, populist, and incel internet content disseminated across Meta and X, in processes of digital radicalisation; and the threat this poses to the Western world, with a particular focus on the UK and the U.S. post-inauguration.
The Post Inauguration Normalisation of Far-Right Rhetoric
The inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20th marked a pivotal moment for the normalisation of far-right rhetoric. Elon Musk’s so-called ‘Roman salute’—not only an ahistorical claim but also foreshadowing a potentially new age of political polarity marked by Orwellian ‘doublespeak’—emboldened extremist groups in the United States like the Proud Boys. This galvanisation was amplified by Trump’s pardons of numerous January 6th insurrectionists such as Jacob Chansley - the ‘QAnon Shaman’. Across the Atlantic, following the incarceration of Tommy Robinson, the Muslim grooming gang ‘scandal’ has once again been brought to the forefront of political debate. This has garnered the attention of Elon Musk, who has expressed his interest in backing the Reform UK; whilst far right figures like Jordan Peterson have spoken openly about the ‘issue’ on mainstream news outlets such as Piers Morgan uncensored. Despite Home Office reports finding there is no correlation between a single ethnicity and grooming cases, Muslim immigrants in the UK have once again become the targets of far-right contention. Despite consistent bans, internet content of Robinson has continued to resurface, exemplifying how digital communities facilitate the transcendence of these ideologies beyond borders.
The Role of Misinformation and Disinformation, Emotive Framing Techniques, and Big Tech
Scholars of digital radicalisation have long warned of the insular community building effects of algorithmically driven digital socialisation. As information has become increasingly decentralised, so has the power of influence, leading to the internet becoming a fertile ground for the spread of misinformation and disinformation. Often conflated or used interchangeably the two are distinct in the intent and consequences. Whilst misinformation refers to the unintentional sharing of false information, primarily facilitated by poor critical awareness; disinformation refers to the deliberate sharing of false information with the direct goal of manipulating or deceiving a target audience. Both phenomena, however, flourish in unfiltered digital landscapes, which are orientated towards engagement as opposed to critical rigour. For example, a 2018 study concluded that tweets containing false information were 70% more likely to be retweeted than their accurate counterparts. The divisive language and emotive techniques that mis/dis-information primarily employs have exacerbated this phenomenon. Binary framings (e.g., ‘us’ vs ‘them’) are designed to appeal directly to emotional sentiment, allowing the narrations to circumvent rational contemplation. This is exemplified by the ‘Great Replacement Theory’ which is a common thread in extreme far-right discourse, that falsely suggests that demographic shifts in Europe and North America are intentional attempts to replace white populations. This ‘othering’ of migrants is commonly instilled through hyperbolic language such as ‘invasion’ and ‘aliens’, presenting the natural phenomenon as a threat to social cohesion.
Extremist violence has been an inevitable consequence of the free flowing of false information, as individuals predisposed to radicalisation no longer require direct contact with extremist networks, allowing for a process of algorithmically driven ‘self-radicalisation’, as they increasingly engage with dangerous rhetoric embedded in false information. The emergence of the ‘lone wolf’ terrorism trend is a testament to this, as many of these assailants’ grievances are grounded in conspiracy theories found online.
Technological advancements, such as the rise of deepfakes and AI doctored images have further complicated this growing issue of digital radicalisation. Individuals with poor digital literacy are more exposed than ever, as highly convincing, entirely fabricated content is increasingly hard to recognise. Furthermore, from a technical point of view, the social media companies’ artificial intelligence algorithms designed to monitor extremist content are less focused on white supremacist and far-right content, with less data and less training to take it down automatically. Ultimately, social media companies are grounded in economic competition, resulting in a prioritisation of engagement. Unfortunately, in an age marked by information overload and hyperstimulation, researchers have found that polarising and emotionally charged content typically receives increased engagement. Divisive content and ‘rage baiting’ often outperform more neutral content grounded in truth, creating feedback loops where platforms are incentivised to amplify this content to retain user activity, and thus increase their ad revenue.
Online Allies: The Populist, Far-Right, and Incel Nexus
The ‘manosphere’ is a loose confederacy of decentralised, interconnected digital networks who focus on gender issues, misandry, and male ‘supremacy’. One subculture that falls under this umbrella is the ‘incel’ or involuntary celibate community, who blame the liberal western order, but more specifically women for their personal and social grievances. In recent years, scholas have noticed the ideological convergence of incel, far right and populist narratives online. Globalisation, multiculturalism, and feminism have been synthetised into a singular vilified enemy - ‘wokeism’. The overlapping ideals between incels and far-right extremists is now well documented and particularly concerning. Within incel forums racist and misogynistic rhetoric, is consistently espoused, portraying women and minority groups a collective target. This has been facilitated by a breadth of external factors. Firstly, the renegotiation of gender hierarchies in the workplace, resulted in the loss of the ‘breadwinner’ status traditionally afforded to men. This economic anxiety was heightened by the 2008 financial crisis; globalisation and automation of traditional manufacturing jobs; and WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) communities underperforming relative to migrants. Thus, demographic shifts and immigration was not only presented as a threat to white working-class jobs, but also following the September 11th attack and the early 21st century prevalence of (and asymmetric reporting on) Islamic terrorism, migrants were seen as a threat to social cohesion. These digital subcultures also exhibit overlapping ideologies with populism, often converging through the antisemitic conspiracy theory that depict a shadowy cabal of Jewish elites determined to undermine traditions, implement immigration, and feminist social change in a ‘New World Order’. Whilst the internet has partially facilitated this, the influence of the ‘male loneliness epidemic’ cannot be understated. Men experiencing isolation or alienation can now turn to online communities for validation and approval, whilst being made aware of the ‘culpable’ group for their experience of isolation. Thus, cultural homogeneity, white nationalism, populism, and a return traditional gender roles were seen as the antidote to the grievances faced by underperforming white male populations, who were also experiencing marginalisation partially facilitated by culture wars that they believed smothered their attempts to express their grievances.
Social Media Trends Post Inauguration
Following Trump’s inauguration, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have positioned themselves as the champions of ‘free speech’, loosening their platforms restrictions on online censorship. Content that was once confined to the darkest reassess of the internet has now been injected into the mainstream. The following trends across Meta and X, set a dangerous precedent for the future of online engagement. These trends are often cloaked in satire, resulting in regulation challenges.
AI-doctored Hitler speeches: The rhetoric within these speeches have been entirely fabricated to present Hitler’s intent during WW2 as more rational and justified. These have also been translated into English, often including an English accent to subconsciously resonate with the UK audiences it is targeted towards. These speeches are often paired with classical incel, ‘sigma’ or ‘stoicism’ iconography, and isolationist captions about saving Europe from the global order, appealing to incel, populist and far right sentiment.
‘The Sun Will Rise Again’ British Empire montages: These shorts glorify the British Empires, ‘satirically’ calling for the re-establishment of colonial rule by presenting colonial endeavours as hugely beneficial to the local populations. These have often been shared by ‘masculinity’ pages and present the current economic status of the UK as a reason to re-establish its place in the global order as a superpower.
Holocaust denial memes: Shared under the guise of ‘dark humour’ these memes have been shared in various forms. One such meme was a depiction of Iron Man asking Jarvis (the AI assistant in his suit) to calculate the maths of the Holocaust casualty numbers, suggesting the number had been fabricated. This underscores the dangerous conspiracy that it either didn’t happen or was mathematically impossible, suggesting instead that the numbers were inflated by the Jewish elites to supress critiques towards them. Many of these memes are shared by profiles with far-right symbols or profile pictures. For example, many are shared with profile pictures of ‘Pepe the Frog’—originally a harmless cartoon character, later appropriated by far-right groups, becoming a banner of the movement and a symbol of hate—or with depictions of Pepe as a detective investigating these claims.
Rhodesia glorification: These videos often depict Danny Archer from the movie Blood Diamond, in the famous bar scene when he tells a journalist he is from Rhodesia. After this, the video montages depict the European architecture in Zimbabwe, and displays of the streets full of white Rhodesians, presenting it as a hub of civilisation. The montages are often set to trending music, promoting white supremacist narratives under the guise of nostalgia.
Implications for Security in the US and the UK
The proliferation of far-right, populist, and incel propaganda on social media presents salient challenges to the national security in the U.S. and the UK. The January 6th insurrection and the Michigan Militia plot to assassinate democrat governor Gretchen Whitmer, in October 2020, displays the tangible consequences of online radicalisation and the proliferation of conspiracy theories and disinformation. The lone wolf threat presents intelligence agencies with increasing challenges in identifying assailants with no connections to established terror networks. Digital martyrdom and gamification of mass murder have further incentivised lone individuals. Glorification of past lone actors creates copycat attacks, from individuals struggling to find purpose and validation. For example, following the Christchurch shooting, images surfaced of him as evangelic saint holding AR in images styled in classic Byzantine iconography, whilst memes were shared of him as ‘Chad Tarrant’—a classic incel slogan. As trending extremist content across X and Meta reaches larger spheres of the public, and thus more alienated individuals, digital radicalisation and extremist violence is expected to increase. Furthermore, live streaming terrorist attacks on X and Meta platforms presents a worrying trend, that risks gamifying mass murder and giving terrorists larger theatres of engagement. 2020’s have also seen dangerous increases of lone wolf terrorism using improvised weaponry such as car ramming’s or knife attacks. With increased engagement occurring between actors across the spectrum of extremism, it is not unreasonable to be pessimistic about the risk posed by DIY terrorism emanating from the online far-right, incel, and populist and populist nexus. As far-right groups like the Proud Boys rhetoric are increasingly legitimised by the White House officials, this situation will undoubtably escalate.
These challenges have also been echoed by the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, who has emphasised the ‘new breed’ violent extremism emerging across Europe is (increasingly male) individuals digitally radicalised by extreme far right and incel ideologies. This threat is not new however, leading terrorism and political violence academics in the U.S., have long warned about the threat far-right movements pose to becoming the new ‘5th Wave’ of global terror, set to proceed the threat of Islamic terrorism in the coming generations. In 2018 alone, extreme right-wing terrorism (ERWT), accounted for approximately 22% of attacks in the UK and in the same year around 25% of MI5’s caseload—numbers that are only expected to continue increasing. The Cabinet Office suggest these narratives and grievances are exploited by external actors, primarily Russia, who sow the seeds of extremism, by boosting engagement with divisive rhetoric; thus, eroding societal cohesion and presenting further challenges to the UK’s national security. In response to this growing threat, Starmer has accentuated that countering digital radicalisation necessitates broader coordinated efforts; however, such calls have been diminished by the transnational growth of far-right populism and fierce debates regarding censorship and free speech.
Policy Recommendations
Push for increased regulation on social media platforms and accountability of companies:
Social media platforms and owners must be held accountable for their role in amplifying extremist content. Governments should push to mandate transparency in algorithmic processes, to deter engagement prioritisation of divisive content.
Enhance the general public’s media literacy:
The proliferation of new technologies underscores the necessity for enhancing the general population’s media literacy and their capacity to critically engage with content and users. Educational programs should be developed and implemented at early stages to teach critical thinking and digital literacy skills, specifically for younger generations, so they can better identify and resist manipulative and divisive content.
Strengthening international cooperation:
Western governments must prioritise intelligence sharing and should share innovative techniques for countering digital radicalisation and online extremism.
Addressing root causes:
Policymakers must listen to the grievances of these communities that drive them towards extremism to better inform preventative measures and the dissemination of counter narratives. Combatting the ‘male loneliness epidemic’ should be prioritised. Implementing alternative community-building initiatives and accessible mental health support can also mitigate the rise in male violence.
Conclusion
The digital Trojan Horse of far-right, populist, and incel propaganda represents a profound and quickly evolving threat to the Western world. By exploiting social media algorithms, free speech narratives, and the guise of irony or humour, extremist ideologies have infiltrated mainstream cultural discourse. The consequences of inaction will be dire and the time to dismantle the digital Trojan Horse is now—before its destructive forces become irreversible.