»Im toten Winkel«: Konferenzbericht zur Jahreskonferenz 2022
Author: Dominik Hammer
Published: 22 August 2023
This report provides a summary of the expert conference “Im toten Winkel – Rechtsextreme Radikalisierung im Netz” (In the blind spot – right-wing extremist radicalisation online), which was held in Berlin in October 2022 as part of the project “Countering radicalisation in right-wing extremist online subcultures” funded by the German Federal Ministry of Justice. This was the second expert conference of this project to be held, in which we presented current research projects from digital right-wing extremism research and discussed diverse perspectives from research, regulation and law enforcement.
The report highlights the social and political relevance of the research field and current trends in right-wing extremism research, followed by greetings from the State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Benjamin Strasser, and the head of ISD Germany, Huberta von Voss, among others. Keynotes were contributed by extremism expert and ISD Senior Research Fellow Julia Ebner and the founder and director of the Polarisation and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL), Professor Dr Cynthia Miller-Idriss.
The conference was divided into several panels, which primarily addressed ideological and strategic developments, new technologies and regulatory challenges in the far-right online milieu. In one discussion panel, experts addressed the impact of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA).
This report summarises the contents of the conference days.
Dominik Hammer is a Research Manager at ISD Germany. Dominik focuses on the analysis of far-right online activities with an emphasis on qualitative research. Dominik’s prior research focused on democratic theory, the strengthening of democratic praxis and the analysis of antidemocratic movements. He is co-author of the ISD research reports “Fluchtwege”, “Wegweiser”, “Stützpfeiler Telegram”, “Um- und Abwege”, “Auf Odysee”, “Im digitalen Labyrinth” and “Die Hydra im Netz”.