2024-04-23 04:01:08
The number of corresponding Telegram channels has increased from 40 to almost 300 – daily views increased from around 100,000 in March 2020 to around 9 million in January 2022
Vienna (OTS) – The new study by the Federal Office for Sect Issues documents for the first time how a digital counter-public formed on the messenger service Telegram in Austria during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which conspiracy theories are actively spread and which are still in use today sees resistance. Above all, so-called alternative media, right-wing extremist channels and leading influencers of the COVID-19 protest movement take a leading role within the network with their often conspiracy theory and polarizing messages. The report illustrates how widely disseminated and frequently shared messages on Telegram promote mistrust of democratic institutions and scientific knowledge, as well as established media reporting. In this context, it is particularly worrying that conspiracy theory messages are often posted within the network that contribute to the demonization and devaluation of ethnic, religious and sexual minorities.
Online monitoring of conspiracy theories in the digital space
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, conspiracy theories and the associated individual and societal risks have increasingly come into the public eye. As international studies make clear, social media and especially the instant messaging service Telegram are central to the spread of conspiracy theories. At the same time, little is known about which online networks conspiracy theories are spread in Austria and which actors play a key role in this. A research project at the Federal Office for Sect Questions funded by the Federal Chancellery is intended to close this gap and provide insight into current developments and trends in the area of conspiracy theories. The aim of online monitoring is an expanded knowledge base and a better understanding of the spread of conspiracy theories in the digital space. Through this focus, the Federal Office for Sect Issues wants to contribute to the clarification of a currently largely unexplored field in Austria and fulfill its legal documentation and information mandate. The new study on the Telegram network of the Austrian COVID-19 protest movement represents the first interim result of the research project on conspiracy theories.
Methods
For the current study, 287 public Telegram channels were examined, which could be assigned to the Austrian COVID-19 protest movement using a manual analysis process. The analysis period extends from January 2020 to September 2023 and examined a data set of around 1.3 million messages. Using the Telegram API, relevant meta data from the channels examined was recorded and evaluated using quantitative methods. This analysis made it possible to determine the reach of the channels, the distribution of their messages and the quantitative development of the network, as well as overall trends. The application of network analysis methods also enabled a detailed investigation of the dynamics within the network. Using a combination of quantitative text analysis methods and qualitative analyses, the developments of topics within the network were examined and high-reach messages were evaluated in detail. This approach also made it possible to gain insights into the degree of spread of conspiracy theories within the network and to identify central channels involved in the spread of conspiracy theories.
Continued range despite loss of mobilization
As the new publication from the Federal Office for Sect Issues shows for the first time, starting in March 2020 there was a significant increase in the number of new Austrian Telegram channels being founded as a result of the emerging COVID-19 protest movement. In March 2020, the network analyzed still included around 40 Telegram channels. By the end of the study period in September 2023, this number had increased to almost 300 channels. The creation of new channels, which peaked in winter 2021, was accompanied by a significant increase in the number of daily views: While the average number of views per day was around 100,000 in March 2020, they peaked at around 9 million in January 2022. Although views fell to 4 million by April 2023, they remained well above pre-COVID-19 levels. This shows that despite the end of government COVID-19 protective measures and the associated decline in news views, the network’s reach remains significantly higher than at the beginning of the pandemic. The messaging service Telegram is therefore still characterized today by an active section of the public that sees itself as resisting an unlawful system and in which misinformation, conspiracy theories and polarizing content are widespread.
Close networking despite strong heterogeneity
As the analysis of the Austrian COVID-19 protest movement on Telegram shows, it is a heterogeneous but at the same time strongly interconnected network that consists of channels from different ideological milieus. In addition to the Corona measures opponent scene in the narrow sense that emerged in the wake of the pandemic, it includes channels that are dedicated to organized right-wing extremism, such as the right-wing extremist activist Martin Sellner, the esoteric and spiritual area, so-called “alternative media” such asAuf1, Report24 and Info-DIREKT, the party political spectrum and relevant conspiracy theory milieus. The close networking within the network enables actors who propagate conspiracy theories and extremist narratives to spread their news beyond their core audience and to exert content influence on a heterogeneous audience.
Great Reset, New World Order und QAnon
The high number of views and forwardings of channels such as the online channel AUF1 and other alternative media, which reach up to 240,000 subscribers and record an average of over 1.3 million news views per day, contribute significantly to the spread of conspiracy theories. Real or constructed crisis phenomena are in most cases linked to the conspiracy theory concept of the “Great Reset”, but also the “New World Order” or the QAnon narrative. The right-wing extremist conspiracy theory of the “Great Exchange”, which warns of the planned goal of “replacing” or “annihilating” the European population or often the “white peoples” by “globalist elites”, is also represented within the network and is particularly promoted by spread through right-wing extremist channels. Through the omnipresence of these stories, users come into contact with a relatively homogeneous conspiracy theory worldview in which there are no contradictions, but everything is part of the logic of a large and dangerous plan that one must defend against.
New events, well-known conspiracy stories
Whether it is the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the environmental crisis, the issue of asylum and migration or LGBTIQ+: Many of the leading voices within the network spread the conspiracy narrative that social crises are being deliberately exploited by a global elite or were artificially created to suppress or even destroy the population. In connection with these conspiracy narratives, enemy images and scapegoats are often created and held responsible for social crises. As the report states, the targeted demonization and devaluation of ethnic, religious and sexual minorities is particularly worrying against this background. As the analysis of high-reach news from alternative media such asAuf1, Report24 and Info-Direkt or the right-wing extremist activist Martin Sellner shows, latent and explicitly anti-Semitic and in many cases xenophobic, racist, homophobic and anti-queer narratives are spread in this context.
Hostility to democracy and enemy images
The conspiracy theories spread within the Telegram network examined often portray democratic institutions as mere shells and instrumental tools of an allegedly global elite that is pursuing the plan to establish a new world order in which the population is monitored, incapacitated or even enslaved and destroyed . Corresponding narratives are often embedded in populist resistance rhetoric, which calls for people to get involved in the resistance and become active by participating in demonstrations, buying products, financially supporting activists and voting for certain parties. In addition to the delegitimization of democratic institutions, processes and values, scientific findings such as the effectiveness of vaccinations or climate change are often questioned within the network and established media are fundamentally denied credibility.
Individual and social radicalization
In this context, Ulrike Schiesser, Managing Director of the Federal Office for Sect Issues, notes that in the Federal Office’s advisory cases, relatives repeatedly reported that those affected began to use the Telegram messenger service in the course of the pandemic, became increasingly radicalized in their views and isolated from the outside world. Individual radicalization processes can lead to people being increasingly influenced by conspiracy theories and their thinking becoming increasingly taken over by them. These individual alienation processes are in turn specifically used by extremist actors for political mobilization purposes. Even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the presence of a virtual partial public in which conspiracy theories are spread and democratic institutions are delegitimized remains a relevant social problem area that must be actively worked on and addressed.
“The report shows that it is a very heterogeneous online milieu that should not be placed under general suspicion. However, it identifies central channels that are involved in the spread of conspiracy theories and whose content is critically examined with regard to possible potential threats.”
Ulrike Schiesser, Managing Director of the Federal Office for Sect Issues
“It is worrying that right-wing extremist and conspiracy theory actors have partly succeeded in taking over the protest movement for themselves and their content is being increasingly disseminated, particularly via so-called ‘alternative media’.”
Philipp Pflegerl, research assistant at the federal agency and study author
“Even though the number of views has decreased, Telegram remains a network that still has the potential to endanger democracy and in which hatred of minorities is fomented.”
Felix Lippe, research assistant at the federal agency and study author
The monitoring report is up www.bundesstelle-sektenfragen.at/veroeffentlichungen/ available for download.
Questions & Contact:
Mag.a Ulrike Schiesser
Federal Office for Sect Issues
Wollzeile 12/2/19, 1010 Vienna
+43 1 513 04 60
[email protected]
www.bundesstelle-sektenfragen.at
1713845370
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