The resilience of online right-wing extremism in Canada

The document identifies the resilience of Canadian right-wing extremism online, noting that while social media enforcement removes some accounts, new ones frequently emerge. It highlights the significant influence of US politics and the COVID-19 pandemic on extremist activity, with the latter accounting for 38.8% of categorised messages. The analysis also details the role of these groups in spreading disinformation and the presence of violent mobilisation on fringe platforms like Telegram and incel forums.

• The COVID-19 pandemic was the primary driver of discussion among analysed right-wing extremist communities in 2020, representing 38.8% of all categorised messages. This activity often focused on anger toward the government and conspiracy theories, potentially amplified by increased time spent online due to pandemic restrictions.
• Canadian right-wing extremists are heavily influenced by the United States, mentioning the US more frequently than Canada. Discussion of Canadian politics was only 3.1% more prevalent than discussion of US politics, with a specific focus on Donald Trump.
• Right-wing extremists in Canada actively drive disinformation, including the creation of viral false claims on 4chan regarding a potential Canadian invasion of the US following the 2020 election, and the promotion of COVID-19 conspiracy theories on YouTube and Gab.
• While social media policy enforcement led to the removal of many channels between 2019 and 2020—including 63.5% of Twitter accounts and 47% of YouTube channels—the overall ecosystem remained resilient as new channels emerged to replace them.
• Violent mobilisation and hateful language were identified in a set of 30,847 posts. This included white supremacist channels on Telegram promoting accelerationist ideology and incel forums discussing the harming and murder of women.

APA

Institute for Strategic Dialogue (2021). The resilience of online right-wing extremism in Canada. https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/the-resilience-of-online-right-wing-extremism-in-canada/

Chicago

Institute for Strategic Dialogue. The resilience of online right-wing extremism in Canada. 2021. https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/the-resilience-of-online-right-wing-extremism-in-canada/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Strategic Dialogue |title=The resilience of online right-wing extremism in Canada |date=20 July 2021 |url=https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/the-resilience-of-online-right-wing-extremism-in-canada/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforstrategicdialogue2021resilience, author = {{Institute for Strategic Dialogue}}, title = {{The resilience of online right-wing extremism in Canada}}, institution = {Institute for Strategic Dialogue}, year = {2021}, month = jul, url = {https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/the-resilience-of-online-right-wing-extremism-in-canada/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }