CTEC Investigation: White Supremacy, Anti-Semitism, and Violence in Spanish and Portuguese Online Communities

Western media coverage of far-right extremism, especially of White supremacy and neo-Nazism, often focus on English-speaking communities, as many of the most high-profile examples of White supremacist terrorism have taken place in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. However, as CTEC has shown previously, far-right extremism is truly transnational and trans-cultural.

Over the last few months, CTEC has undertaken in-depth research into Portuguese and Spanish extremism on the Internet as part of our partnership with Spectrum Labs. We have uncovered large, highly engaged, radicalized communities of users who frequently and casually share Nazi propaganda, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, incitements to violence, and direct calls for extermination of certain minorities. These communities span Latin America, South America, and the Iberian Peninsula, and employ a diverse array of dialects, slang, memes, and slurs. 

In addition to posing a challenge for content moderators and the development of detection technologies, the existence of extreme communities on readily accessible websites indicates a dangerous situation that could - and, indeed, has already - spiral into racial violence and terrorism.