Canada First Is Inevitable: Analyzing Youth-Oriented Far-Right Propaganda on TikTok

Abstract

The gradual disappearance of the so-called ‘alt-right’, caused in part by the gradual deplatforming of its figureheads has created somewhat of a power vacuum, allowing for a new generation of far-right influencers to take over. The Groyper movement, led by 23-year-old Nicholas J. Fuentes, could in this sense be described as one of the successors of the alt-right. The Groypers are youth-led and youth-oriented, insofar as their primary aim is to radicalize – or ‘red pill’ – Generation Z, a strategy outlined both in their speech and their use of social media platforms primarily used by young people, with TikTok being the most notable example. Despite the movement’s relative infancy, it could easily be described as one of the fastest growing far right group in the modern era – in large part due to the perfect storm created by the COVID-19 lockdowns and the Black Lives Matter protests – and has recently begun to spawn culturally distinct offshoots outside of the United States into countries like Canada. This thesis will therefore examine the discursive practices of the Canadian ‘branch’ of the Groyper movement on TikTok in order to identify some of the tactics it uses to facilitate the radicalization of teenagers and young adults by drawing on Ruth Wodak’s Discourse-Historical framework. The findings of this project add to a growing body of research regarding youth-oriented far-right movements, the use TikTok for propaganda purposes, and the broader literature of discourse analysis.