Right-wing extremism is gaining ground at an alarming rate in Belgium, with the help of social media, the organisation responsible for threa
The organisation responsible for threat analysis in Belgium (OCAD) has warned that right-wing extremism is gaining ground at an alarming rate and that social media is an aggregator for spreading such ideas.
Although Jihadism is still posing the main threat in Belgium, the annual report of OCAD found that there has been a “steep rise” in right-wing extremism ideology.
“The increased activity of right-wing extremists on the Internet, also in our country, points to the danger that emanates from right-wing extremist arsenals,” the OCAD’s annual report, seen by De Morgen, read.
It warned that the Internet plays an important role as an online meeting place for people with such extreme ideologies.
Remarkably, the report also explicitly mentions that memes – online collages of pictures aimed at making jokes, usually with an ironic undertone – are a way to “spread rabid racism” and conspiracy theories.
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