From criticism to conspiracies: The populist discourse of COVID-19 sceptics in Germany’s Querdenken community on Telegram

Discourse & Society Pub Date : 2023-08-08 DOI:10.1177/09579265231191971

Rémi Almodt

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Abstract

Telegram is a central space for unifying far-right actors and ideology, activists and movements, alternative media, conspiracies, and Coronavirus scepticism. While much research has focused on network dynamics and topic modelling, there is a scarcity of large scale, in-depth content analyses. The present research examines this environment through a semi-automated content analysis of German COVID-19 protest movement Querdenken on Telegram, to determine discursive features of the politicisation of this public health crisis within Querdenken’s communities. The analysis of 1.4 million chat messages shows that key elements of right-wing populist discourse can be detected in several sub-communities. The people and the homeland are antagonised by the corrupt, oppressive elite. Within this environment, politicised anti-COVID-19 restrictions narratives combine with populist discourse, distributed from Querdenken channels via general information channels, connecting to activist, protest, news, lawyer, and doctor-themed chats. Within these channels, external links lead towards publications promoting far-right ideology and conspiracies.

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从批评到阴谋:德国电报上的Querdenken社区中COVID-19怀疑论者的民粹主义话语

电报是将极右翼演员和意识形态、活动家和运动、另类媒体、阴谋论和冠状病毒怀疑主义统一起来的中心空间。虽然许多研究都集中在网络动力学和主题建模上，但缺乏大规模、深入的内容分析。本研究通过对德国COVID-19抗议运动Querdenken在电报上的半自动内容分析来检查这种环境，以确定Querdenken社区内这一公共卫生危机政治化的话语特征。对140万条聊天信息的分析表明，可以在几个子社区中发现右翼民粹主义话语的关键要素。人民和祖国都被腐败、压迫的精英阶层所敌视。在这种环境下，政治化的抗covid -19限制叙事与民粹主义话语相结合，通过一般信息渠道从Querdenken渠道传播，与活动家、抗议、新闻、律师和医生主题的聊天联系在一起。在这些渠道中，外部链接指向宣扬极右翼意识形态和阴谋论的出版物。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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Discourse & Society

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