Hate Influencers’ Mediation of Hate on Telegram: “We Declare War Against the Anti-White System”

Abstract

Hate influencers play a critical role in platforming hate. In this article, we illustrate how visible (forward-facing) and invisible (faceless) hate influencers mobilize far-right hate groups in the mobile socio-sphere. Based on our digital multimodal walkthrough method and multimodal discourse analysis, we analyze 16 Telegram channels for two designated hate groups. We focus our analysis on Proud Boys content related to the 6 January attack on Capitol Hill and the White Lives Matter rallies across North America in 2021. To illustrate how hate influencers mobilize these groups, we introduce a three-part model that entails the process (mobile mobilization), means (discourses), and ends (actualizing the objective of the hate group).