Anti-online ideologies research hub & network

The work of investigating and documenting anti-democratic movements online is currently neglected. This is alarming, given the influence of the anti-democratic groups, especially within politics. In previous projects, Bellingcat, in collaboration with the The Swedish Postcode Lottery Foundation, has investigated and documented Central and Eastern European far-right movements and, with support from the EU, the QAnon conspiracy theory movement. However, the data available today is fragmented and often outdated.

To continue documenting and ultimately counteracting the advance of anti-democratic movements, it is necessary to develop existing technology and add more anti-democratic ideologies and actors for investigation, such as the manosphere with Andrew Tate at the forefront. Information, technology, and useful methods, also need to be made accessible to more people.

In this project, Stichting Bellingcat aims to increase knowledge about anti-democratic movements online, how they operate, and highlight the danger these groups, individuals, and ideologies pose to democracy.

The project is supported with 3 410 000 SEK.

What’s happening in the project?

– In the previous project, a Dashboard was developed to filter various social media posts from different far-right movements. This project will update and develop these tools further.
– The number of movements under scrutiny will be expanded, this time including those in the USA.
– Lessons learned and successful methods will be disseminated to new actors.

Why is the project supported?

The project contributes to increasing knowledge about anti-democratic movements online, thereby improving the conditions to counteract the negative development of democracy.