Kekistanis and the Meme War on Social Media

Abstract

This study examines public discourse, on Instagram and Twitter, related to the alt-right group which call themselves: Kekistanis. It offers an empirical understanding of this community, which uses highly-divisive language in promoting white supremacy through targeted memes. After tracing the origins and nature of the Kekistanis’ coded language, I present a mixed method analysis of tweets and Instagram posts that reference Kekistan and Kek, in order to understand their main themes, messages, and communication strategies.