After Christchurch: Alt-right Discourse and Ideology in Australia and the Platformisation of Extremism

The emergence of the alt-right in the US since 2008 has been widely documented but its international impacts have received less attention. Located in the context of the 2019 Christchurch massacre of 51 people by an Australian alt-right influenced gunman and based in analysis of two Australian forums, XYZ.net.au and #DingoTwitter, this article investigates the transnational spread of alt-right discourse in the context of the platformisation of extremism. Through historical and content analysis of the sites, the paper shows how key alt-right ideologies of 'white replacement' and 'white genocide', along with anti-Semitic and misogynist ideologies, are adapted to local contexts by alt-right influenced actors. Platform logics, it is argued, provide new possibilities for the mutation and spread of 'translocal whiteness' and for the deployment of alt-right 'metapolitical' strategies that seek to normalise racist discourse.