Picture this: a large group of men, pumping their fists and gawkily dancing to electronic music with a hard, throbbing bass line. They are first frolicking in the street, and then aggressively hopping around in the town square, and then perhaps accompanying their dance with sparklers by a nearby school. They are fully clothed, fully masked, and seem to be the only ones amused by their performance. When you think of hooligans, neo-Nazis, skinheads, etc., this is not necessarily what you think of, but this is exactly what it is. They call their videos “Hardbass dance attacks,” and they are among a plethora of neo-Nazi videos posted to Youtube. For a few (and disturbing) reasons, though, they have prevailed the longest.
In the Czech Republic, and the EU more generally, there are laws against hate speech. People cannot outwardly express racist or antisemitic views without punishment, which has lead to people taking up other mediums to push their ideology. Social media has proven to be, unfortunately, an excellent tool for this. The ability to network across spatial barriers and to remain anonymous are among the reasons this works, as well as the added pluses of being able to reach a wider audience and connect with like-minded people.
Specifically, Youtube has become a strong space for spreading a white supremacist agenda. It is, unfortunately, the great way to express radical views that won’t be easily removed. Visual aids enable you to smartly work around these policies and use implicit, hidden messages to get your point across — and avoid being blocked in the process. According to Motherboard, who led a software-aided investigation on neo-Nazi propaganda online, these videos include neo-Nazi propaganda, hate speeches, extremists encouraging or calling to action, a celebration of neo-nazi organizations, footage of anti-refugee protests, and other neo-Nazi related material.
Although this content goes against Youtube’s hate speech policy and a multitude have been removed, many still exist on the platform. According to ProPublica, banned videos and accounts typically reappear because Youtube does not have a method of making sure this doesn’t happen. Additionally, groups generally can find clever ways around the policies.
In the Czech Republic, this is clear. As described above, videos have been identified in the form of guerrilla “Hardbass dance attacks,” in which groups of 15-20 people publicly dance (or rather, repetitively hop around while moving their arms and banging their heads) to Hardbass music in different parts of town. According to Česká pozice, Hardbass is a subgenre of EDM influenced by far-right Russian extremists and nationalists. They sometimes have lyrics that reference neo-Nazism, for example, the numbers 14 and 88, which have ties to white supremacist movements. Additionally, they typically wear clothing that is associated with neo-Nazi movements. The numbers 14 and 88 are, again, displayed, along with brands associated with Europe’s far-right extremists, such as Lonsdale and Thor Steinar.
Rather than explicitly shout out their views and agenda, they express their ideologies through clothes, music, and other subtle signifiers. These videos trace back to 2010, so they have wildly succeeded in getting around Youtube’s policy. According to Česká pozice, around 40 to 60 of these videos have been filmed, with the majority in Moravia and a few in Prague. Videos circulating on Czech sites were generally made by the same group based in Ostrava. It is unclear whether the participants are tied to an established neo-Nazi organization, but regardless it shows the proliferation of such content and the clever ways in which extremists may go to push their agenda.
It is up to the social media giants, then, and perhaps even government legislation, to filter through this content. And this goes for all social media sites, where platforms have proved to be a new frontier when it comes to the proliferation of neo-Nazi content. It is extremely enabling because of its array of options, lenient policies, and ability to reach and connect with so many people. The implications of the phenomena are concerning, especially when anyone can see this type of content. Too many things slip through the cracks, and it only takes one video to convince a random internet user to join a radical movement.
Featured image courtesy of Youtube user Bjorni1312
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