By OppAttune PhD candidate Jullietta Stoencheva and Professor Biljana Mileva Boshkoska
In the digital age, online platforms have become the new battlegrounds for public discourse. One such platform, Flashback Forum, has emerged as a significant space for discussions about migration in Sweden. In a new study, OppAttune PhD candidate Jullietta Stoencheva and Professor Biljana Mileva Boshkoska shed light on how extremist narratives become woven into everyday discussions about migration on this popular anonymous forum.
Using a unique mixed-methods approach that combines computational topic modelling and qualitative narrative analysis, the researchers identified key topics and extremist narratives within these discussions. Interestingly, the study highlights that the discussions often revolved around broader societal issues rather than migration itself. Topics included employment, education, healthcare, and Swedish identity, focusing on how immigration disrupts these elements of everyday life in Sweden. Two topics stood out for their overtly extremist language: “Biological racial differences” and “Animals,” where immigrants were dehumanized and portrayed as genetically inferior.
Figure 1. Intertopic distance map. The numbers next to the scale items indicate the number of posts corresponding to each category
How extremist narratives take shape
Importantly, the study reveals a pattern for constructing extremist narratives: they build in part on group identity constructions, where the perceived in-group suggests a violent or hostile solution to a societal crisis or threat, the root cause of which they frame to be out-groups. This process mirrors a core feature of populism, dividing society in positively framed in-groups and negatively framed out-groups. The alleged ’crisis’ suggests that out-groups cause the suffering of the in-group both through their inherent traits (how they are), and through their actions (what they do). Constructed in such a way, these crisis narratives legitimise the proposal of extreme counteractions.
Four types of crisis narratives were identified in the analysed material:
- Crises of impurity: Immigrants were framed as ‘contaminating’ Swedish society, both ideologically and racially. This narrative also targeted ‘leftists’ and Swedish women as traitors or ‘contaminated in-groups.’
- Conspiracy narratives: Discussions suggested a hidden agenda by elites to replace the Swedish population with immigrants.
- Dystopian narratives: Immigration was projected to lead to societal collapse, with immigrants blamed for the destruction of Sweden’s welfare system, physical surroundings, and values.
- Existential threat: Immigrants were portrayed as a direct threat to the survival of the Swedish population.
While it is important to understand these narratives, it is equally vital to recognise strategies for counteracting them. Awareness of how these narratives function enables a more critical approach to online discussions and media consumption. Encouraging digital literacy, fostering critical thinking, and promoting inclusive narratives can all help push back against this type of extremist messaging.
How everyday extremism thrives online
The prevalence of these narratives in ordinary conversations and interactions on a mainstream public forum, we propose, aligns with a larger trend towards an increasing presence and normalization of extremist messages and symbols in people’s daily lives, both online and offline – a phenomenon described as everyday extremism. This process occurs through four key mechanisms:
- Mainstreaming: Extremist ideas spread from fringe environments into popular, non-political
- Normalisation: The process through which previously extreme ideas become acceptable and uncontroversial.
- Mundane Integration: Extremist narratives blend into discussions about everyday concerns, making them appear rational or common-sense.
- Cultural Penetration: Extremist messages infiltrate entertainment, online humour, and popular culture, embedding these ideas into daily life.
In sum, the study shows how mundane concerns around immigration on Flashback mix with overtly extremist discourse and conspiracy beliefs, explicating Flashback as a site of everyday extremism. These findings ultimately highlight the significance of online spaces like Flashback as both a reflection of and a catalyst for broader social and ideological shifts. The presence of extremist narratives in discussions about mundane societal issues on Flashback underscore the need for vigilance and proactive engagement with online discussions as important indicators of societal trends. Recognizing how these ideas spread – and learning how to challenge them – equips us to better counteract misinformation and promote more balanced democratic dialogue. As a society, we play a vital role in addressing and mitigating the spread of these harmful narratives. By fostering digital resilience and critical dialogue, we can work towards a more informed and cohesive social fabric.
The full publication can be found here: (PDF) Extremist narratives in the digital mainstream: Exploring online discussions about migration in Sweden
