Left-Wing Extremism on the Decentralized Web: Fediverse's Lemmygrad.ml endorses authoritarian regimes, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, exhibits anti-Zionist and antisemitic rhetoric, study reveals

a year ago by Hotznplotzn to c/fediverse

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Left-wing extremists have been showing "substantial activity on Lemmygrad.ml" with an accompanying increase in toxicity, a new joint study published by Binghamton University and Cyprus University of Technology on Arxiv says.

The researchers also identified posts that support authoritarian regimes, endorse the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and feature anti-Zionist and antisemitic content.

"Overall, our findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of political extremism within decentralized social networks and emphasize the necessity of analyzing both ends of the political spectrum in research," the researchers conclude.

[...]

Users on Lemmygrad.ml frequently discuss [...] China and North Korea, with many posts expressing support for them.

[...]

Discussions [on Lemmygrad.ml] on the Israel-Palestine conflict primarily criticize Israel. While many posts condemn antisemitism, [the authors] also encounter numerous posts that extend beyond criticizing Israel, displaying anti-Zionism and even antisemitism.

[...]

[The study] results show that users of Lemmygrad.ml frequently share posts that support authoritarian regimes, as seen in their support for China, North Korea, and Russia. Moreover, their support can extend beyond backing these authoritarian regimes, even cheering on their violent actions, as evidenced by their posts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, we observe anti-Zionist and antisemitic behaviors, which show similarities to right-wing extremism.

[...]

Our analysis suggests a concerning endorsement of authoritarian actions and extremist rhetoric on Lemmygrad.ml, further indicating that left-wing extremist communities on decentralized platforms should receive more attention from the academic community.

[...]

protist 47 points a year ago

"Left-wing extremism" is a disingenuous way to describe what happens on .ml. It would be more accurately described as "anti-western propaganda."

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Windex007 8 points a year ago

Just "anti-west". Full stop.

It's unbelievably easy to blend into a tankie crowd, there is absolutely no nuance required. I'd even go so far as to say that a nuanced take of any kind actually makes you stick out.

West = Every single thing Bad. China = every single thing Perfect.

Master that formula and you're golden.

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Cethin -3 points a year ago

I want to specify for everyone, Lemmy.ml and lemmygrad.ml are more pro-Russian and hexbear is more pro-China. All anti-western, but Russia and China aren't on the same side either. The instances tend to be friendly though, but that's where they biases tied to lie. Obviously there are exceptions though.

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cows_are_underrated 6 points a year ago

Its not lemmy.ml Its lemmygrad.ml

That's an important detail.

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AEGIS2317 0 points a year ago

lemmy.ml users will threaten to kill you for not having the exact same views as they do. they rly have some completely unhinged psychopaths over there.

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cows_are_underrated 3 points a year ago

It is like that, but from my experience lemmygrad is much much worse than .ml

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optissima 1 point a year ago

threaten to kill you for not having the exact same views as they do

looking forward to that laundry list of examples to go with this extreme

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AEGIS2317 0 points a year ago

I literally had a .ml user threaten me to "put a bullet through my head" just for being on the instance i currently am, calling me a Zionist and a genocide supporter. Without any fucking context. Another one told many people in a post about Gaza to "go kys". Also many comments about ALL german people being Nazis.

Of course all of these comments were removed for promoting violence / racism.

These human shitstains reside on your instance.

Definetely not all but a very radicalised minority.

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JoMiran 34 points a year ago

I don't need to be a fucking tankie to recognize the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians.

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Vittelius 1 point a year ago

The problem with the term Zionism is that it is extremely broad. It technically "just" describes believing that there should be some type of culturally Jewish dominated country. That can mean ethno state but it can also just mean religious holidays are bank hollidays, the same way Christmas is a holiday in many majority Christian countries.

Anti-Zionist as a term is therefore practically useless without a more detailed definition describing what kind of Zionism one means.

I assume their problem is mostly with the "Israelis are colonisers and therefore don't have any right to live anywhere near the region" line of argument. But then again they are from the UK, a country that criminalised Palastine Action, so who knows...

TLDR: you can be a Zionist and still be opposed to the current actions of the Israeli military.

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Saleh 6 points a year ago

What Zionism as an ideology means has been changing over the course of history. However the goal of a Jewish national state has been achieved in 1948. Everything beyond that had just been expanionism. And 1948 already came with a devastating ethnic cleansing and land annexation.

The study is disingenious in trying to legitimize Zionism, by presenting Anti-Zionism as an extremist idea, rather than acknowledging what it opposes today.

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socsa 1 point a year ago

It really isn't that simple though, specifically because there is a cohort of anti Zionists who do want to dissolve the state of Israel. The entire issue is very specifically that the term is overloaded in both directions.

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Hotznplotzn -1 points a year ago

Certainly not. But Russia's genocide in Ukraine? China's genocide in Tibet and Xinjiang? Does one have to be a tankie to deny them?

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JoMiran 13 points a year ago

I think those denials might be defining traits of a tankie, so...yes?

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optissima -4 points a year ago

If those are the defining traits then why are they called Tankies and not something related to that?

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cows_are_underrated 7 points a year ago

The term tankies originally comes fro Qm the tianamean square massacre, in which the Chinese government ordered tanks to run over studenta who were protesting. People who denied that this ever happened were called tankies. Nowadays its more of a broad term who deny, that authoritarian regimes like China, North Korea or Russia di anything bad.

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rumschlumpel 30 points a year ago

Pretty fucked up to put being against Israel's crimes in the same breath as cheering authoritarian violence from Russia, China and North Korea. Somehow it's both bad to cheer for authoritarian violence and to be against authoritarian violence.

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optissima 6 points a year ago

more nuanced understanding of political extremism

proceeds to conflate anti-Zionist with antisemetic

…I'm beginning to think I know who funded this research…

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SoftestSapphic 5 points a year ago

Tankies are right wing extremists btw.

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Hotznplotzn 3 points a year ago

Yeah, this is also what the study concludes, there are "similarities to right-wing extremism" ...

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Pilferjinx 1 point a year ago

Authoritarians on the left and right share the exact same processes. The only difference is the nouns they target.

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socsa 1 point a year ago

obtains popcorn

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Der_Mann_mit_Hut -5 points a year ago

I am observing the discourse here on Lemmy for a while and my honest opinion is: It's not only Lemmygrad and other special platforms, its the network as a whole - it is turning into an extreme-left cesspool akin to what is X and Truth Social for the right.

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njm1314 -7 points a year ago

So apparently it's extremism to be against fascism. That's interesting.

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AEGIS2317 8 points a year ago

You can not be against fascism and endorse the russian genocide on the ukrainian people.

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njm1314 7 points a year ago

Sure no argument. You also can't be against Fascism and be a Zionist though. Zionism is fascism.

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AEGIS2317 2 points a year ago

You assuming that i'm a zionist without knowing anything about me makes it kinda obvious that you are radicalized, bud.

Is everyone you don't agree with a Zionist? Where do you get this from?

Fuck Netanjahu. Fuck Putin. Fuck Trump. Fuck everything and everyone that won't bring peace to Palestine.

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njm1314 3 points a year ago

I wasn't calling you a Zionist at all. I was using second person plural just like you were in your comment to me. Or at least I assumed you were. Now I'm starting to question that a bit...

As for where I got the Zionist thing from? The title. You read that far right? The title of this post? Where they conflate being anti-zionist with anti-Semitic?

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