The Queen’s conspiracies continue: an analysis of the online conversations surrounding the death of Queen Elizabeth II
The British Royal Family has often been the centre of tabloid drama, untrue rumours, and elaborate conspiracy theories. These conspiracy theories in particular have resurfaced, along with a flourish of new ones, in the wake of the Queen’s death. And with social media’s ability to spread a message all the way around the world in a matter of seconds, it is no wonder that some conspiracy theories and disinformation surrounding the death of the U.K’s longest reigning monarch, were able to go viral.
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Coping with Dystopia: Coping with Right-Wing Extremism
In our second episode, we are coping with right-wing extremism. According to the 2019 Global Terrorism Index, far-right terrorism has surged by 320% over the last 5 years. Far-right movements often originate and grow in the online world, most likely on fringe platforms where restrictions are much more blurred than on mainstream platforms. To help us cope, we met with Fabian Wichmann, from EXIT Deutschland in Berlin. EXIT provides support to people who want to leave extreme far-right movements. Fabian gave us five practical solutions on coping with right-wing extremism.
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Coping with Dystopia: Coping with Trolling
In the first episode of this new podcast series we are coping with online trolling. Online trolling can be defined as malicious online behaviour actively put in action to provoke, upset, and harm people through hate speech, violent messages, and death threats. We were joined by Ginger Gorman, an Australian investigative journalist, and author of ‘Troll Hunting’. Ginger Gorman has experienced online hate first-hand as a victim of online trolling. It is clear that online actions have offline consequences. To help us feel less powerless in front of this complicated phenomenon, Ginger gave us five practical solutions to tackle online trolling.
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Catalans Assembled: The story of a grassroots struggle for independence
Walking on the streets of Barcelona: you will find many Catalonian flags hanging on the balconies, transmitting the feeling of an ongoing separatist sentiment in the country. Catalonia has a long history of fighting for independence. After the 2017 referendum, and massive international media attention, Catalonian news slowly disappeared from the public debate. It was for this reason that we wanted to learn more about what the current state of the country is. We reached out to Assemblea Nacional Catalana, a grassroots organisation with the common goal of reaching independence in a democratic and peaceful way.
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Roe v. Wade: The Implications for Religious and Ethnic Minorities
On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling, determining abortion rights, that were guaranteed for nearly 50 years, unconstitutional. Without Roe, 26 states are certain or likely to ban abortion, including 13 states with abortion trigger bans already in place. Within a country in which a polarised debate between pro-choice and anti-abortion movements is highly vivid, the overturning of Roe v. Wade will absolutely harm women’s rights. However, not all women will be affected by this decision evenly. This piece reflects on the repercussion of the law ban on two minority groups: religious minority groups and people of colour.
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How the Dutch farmers' protests became hijacked by conspiracy theorists
Over the past few weeks, the Netherlands has been facing protests by farmers. The farmers are taking to the streets due to government restrictions on livestock numbers and fertiliser use in order to cut nitrogen emissions. These protests have also been making headway into the online world. Within days the online conversations turned toxic, and after a week, we were facing a cesspool of conspiracy theories. So how did this happen? We identified five phases.
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