OA

Fascism 2.0: Twitter Users’ Social Media Memories of Hitler on his 127^th Birthday

This article analyses how Twitter users communicated about Hitler on his 127^th birthday. It employs an empirical critique informed by critical Marxist theories of fascism. The analysis is based on a dataset of 4,193 tweets that were posted on 20 April 2016, and that used hashtags such as #Hitler, #AdolfHitler, #HappyBirthdayAdolf, #HappyBirthdayHitler. The results provide indications about how fascism 2.0 works. There are various strategies that fascism 2.0 uses, such as online authoritarianism, online nationalism, an online friend-enemy scheme, and online patriarchy and naturalism. The growth of fascism 2.0 is a consequence of a ‘fascism-producing’ crisis of society that requires adequate anti-fascist responses and strategies.