ABSTRACT
The metapoliticization of the far-right is now a translocal phenomenon deeply intertwined with the digital infrastructures, the global and the local context. This new layered and synchronized discourse is moulded on existing international far-right voices: in local discourses, we can hear echoes of Trump, Groypers or Qanon discourses and conspiracy theories on Covid-19. The new forms of metapolitical activism use digital media to attract young(er) people and give them an ‘edgy and revolting character’. Metapolitics 2.0 is not just an act of networked individualism, but it also contributes to a niched culture. Within that niched culture, we can find different, even more radical niches where violence is explicitly celebrated, where terrorists become heroes and stars in their own videogame. Users active in such radical niches can get avalanches of discourses that legitimize, banalize, gamify and celebrate violence for the good cause. This is a new subtype of metapolitics in the digital age: it is, as we have seen, strongly formatted: from the live streaming to the discourse used to legitimate their actions, there is remarkable consistency.
