A narrow gateway from misogyny to the far right: empirical evidence for social media exposure effects (Information, Community & Society)

According to the employed theories, the quality of interaction elicited by the conversational agent raised the intervention group’s empathy for the victim and, consequently, their determination to combat hate speech. Implications for theory and practice are examined. Everyday social media use includes misogynist content, which puts targeted at serious risk and normalizes harmful viewpoints. Far-right ideology, which is strongly articulated in online communities of the alt-right and manosphere, is linked to traditional gender hierarchies. This link between violent views may serve as a springboard for greater extremism from misogyny. Building on these claims, the authors present empirical data from a two-wave panel survey conducted in Austria (NW1 = 1522; NW2 = 10303) supporting the gateway hypothesis in social media contexts. Exposure to sexist content increases interaction with far-right content over time, according to path analysis, and this effect is exacerbated for exposure in fringe areas. Furthermore, while far-right material does not predict any of the radicalization measures, exposure to sexist content is linked to behavioral measures for far-right extremism but not to attitudinal measures. Results provide important new information for future studies by indicating the importance of both environmental and individual variables for gateway mechanisms.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2024.2445637?src=