‘Words and ideas are powerful’: A window into online misogyny and violent extremism

Caroline Flora, Chief Censor at Te Mana Whaatau – Classification Office. Source: Rebecca McMillan. 

Content warning: Discussion of misogyny, terrorism, violent extremism, sexual violence, and war. 

When we consider the state of our world, it isn’t a difficult task to decipher what is most impactful to the public: economic drawbacks, health inequalities, prejudice, and war. 

Another is the matter of online misogyny, and how it manifests within platforms that are not always regulated – transferring into real-world actions that can result in detrimental damage. This is a topic of great interest to me, and to many researching its impact on Aotearoa, New Zealand in particular. 

I interviewed Caroline Flora, Chief Censor at Te Mana Whakaatu – Classification Office, to discuss its latest summary report on online misogyny and violent extremism. 

Flora was able to provide detailed insight into the key relevance of their research, and why addressing it head-on is the best approach to see change. 

The role of Te Mana Whakaatu is to examine publications that potentially could be illegal or objectionable. Since the 2019 terror attacks in Ōtautahi Christchurch, they have witnessed an increase in violent material. 

Concerning displays of misogynistic themes were found in the manifestos of mass murderers driven by extremist ideologies. Empirical literature supported what the Classification Office was seeing. Their findings indicated a focus on the hatred of women. Not just casual sexism, but pure hatred. A concerning trend was just how mixed, muddled, and unclear it all was. 

“People pick and mix different ideologies, and thread them in violence,” said Flora, who noted that there are lots of differing extremist ideas people subscribe to. 

With this comes the environment of the Internet.  

While it’s hard to quantify, Flora explained the proliferation of incel ideology communities, and that a link can be drawn from the 2019 attacker to real-world events that they inspired. 

“Our work shows that publications of terrorists inspire future offline violence… words and ideas are powerful,” said Flora. “[This is] worst of the worst stuff. Violent extremists come only second to child abuse content.” 

Looking at disproportionately affected communities, women in high-profile roles are being targeted by abuse and hate online, with advances in technology making it even more problematic. 

The potential of AI has even resulted in the creation of deep-fake pornography that’s ruining reputations and lives. 

“Intersecting identities, like faiths, sexualities, race, gender identities, and disability status, are targeted more,” Flora said. 

Katie Harris, a New Zealand Herald journalist and podcaster, spoke on behalf of her own research into matters of misogyny, sexual violence, and the #MeToo movement.  

“New Zealand’s intelligence agency told me earlier this year [that] the rise of violent rhetoric online is making it challenging for it to identify what is a genuine threat amongst the increasingly huge volume of hateful bluster.” 

“The agency also said abhorrent, offensive, racist, misogynistic, and hateful views have manifested in several ways – from threatening gender language, through to identity-motivated violent extremism such as [the] involuntary celibate movement,” said Harris. 

Judgement and harassment based on gender comprise much of Harris’ work. 

“I have covered cases relating to gender-based violence throughout various communities in Aotearoa. Just last month, a study found female MPs were at ‘significantly higher risk’ of receiving threats of sexual harassment.” 

About the project. Source: Mark Creative. 

Donald Matheson, a Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Canterbury, had some interesting insight into how the matter aligns with the female-centred violence taking place in Palestine. Matheson has written on conflict reporting and communication ethics throughout his career. 

“My Instagram and TikTok are full of images of women in Gaza experiencing hell. But yours may be full of other things, and there is strong evidence for echo chambers, where people who want to disappear into a world of extremist politics, linked up with other extremists, can do so,” said Matheson. 

This leads to the conversation about engagement and algorithms, where it’s widely recognised that social media will do everything in its power to keep its users engaged. 

This may be simply suggesting things of potential interest. The concern with harmful content is that suggestions get more and more extreme and might take impressionable individuals to the edge of these platforms – ones that are less regulated. 

“Young people are being served more and more extreme content through [the] engagement algorithm,” said Flora. 

Observations that were made in Te Mana Whakaatu’s summary report include male supremacy, where it was addressed that “[t]he Bratislava shooter detailed how he had been radicalised at a young age by ideas of male supremacy.” 

Other equally important observations include the ‘Great Replacement’ theory, birth rates, incel ideology, and sexual violence against women and girls. 

Tech and online platforms. Source: Mark Creative. 

The severity of these topics does present limitations of addressing them in sensitive ways – however, it’s crucial that they are not hidden away. More work is being done to address the gaps, investigate intersectionality and the power of technology, and to discover ways that governments and platforms can appropriately respond. 

Misogyny and extremist beliefs are interlinked, and there are different viewpoints on why that might be. But the clear answer is that the connection poses great threat. 

“They’re linked because the politics is about identity. It’s about reaction to change in society in particular,” said Matheson. 

More must be done. More is being done, even if that means approaching a global issue one step at a time and ensuring that the research is effectively documented. 

“We hope that the community in Aotearoa is richer for us having done this research. We have a deeper understanding of what is going on. It is powerful to inform conversations, even around the dinner table or amongst the research community,” said Flora. 

“I hope women read it, and don’t withdraw from online spaces out of fear.” 

Te Mana Whakaatu’s next course of research will be into social media use and the impact on body image. This will be released in the near future. 

In a couple of months, Te Mana Whakaatu will be in Ōtautahi, providing an opportunity for face-to-face interaction. They have stated their ongoing commitment to enhancing support for young people and their whānau in the online realm, and look forward to engaging with the public, and working towards a safer online environment. 

“Always keen for community feedback into mahi,” said Flora.