In 2017, we are seeing a rapidly-growing far-right threat to society. It is international, well-funded, and able to influence in the highest corridors of power.
We undertook a year-long investigation to unveil the figures, operations, and motives behind the mysterious "alt-right".
"Define alt-right to me. You define it. Define it for me. Come on. Let's go." – President Donald Trump to a reporter, August 15, 2017.
The "alt-right", once dismissed as an online distraction, remains relatively misunderstood. This report explains the history and rise of the movement, uncovers the key players behind it, and examines the way in which their network operates on a global scale.
But we knew that the only way to discover what the alt-right truly is was to get inside.
We undertook a year-long infiltration, to gain access to some of the most important alt-right figures in the world and give an exclusive, never-before-seen insight into the inner workings of this international racist movement.
From Charlottesville to the White House, this is the largest and most comprehensive report yet produced on the international Alternative Right.
Undercover in the Alt-Right
For the past year, our operative has been living undercover at the heart of the alt-right.
He infiltrated their network. He extracted damning information that runs all of the way to the White House. And he caught it all on hidden camera.
Key events
Explore the significant events behind the rise of the Alternative Right over the past decade.
Paul Gottfried and Richard Spencer coin the term "alternative right"
Paleoconservative thinker Paul Gottfried delivered a speech at the first annual conference of his H.L. Mencken Club in Baltimore, Maryland.
Without using the term directly during the speech, Gottfried describes the sentiment that would later define the emerging Alternative Right.
During his speech Gottfried addressed "well-educated young professionals, who consider themselves to be on the right, but not of the current conservative movement". He foreshadowed the alt-right's preoccupation with racial politics, complaining of a perceived lack of interest in the "hereditary preconditions for intellectual and cultural achievements".
Bemoaning the success of the Left in suppressing "any serious challenge from the right" from public view, Gottfried hoped that this anti-establishment right "will acquire the resources" to present such a challenge and "will know how to deploy them", touching on the alternative media which the alt-light would come to corner especially.
This speech was uploaded by Richard Spencer to the webzine Taki's Magazine with the title The Decline and Rise of the Alternative Right, the first known use of the term.
Stephen Bannon becomes head of Breitbart News Network
Former Goldman-Sachs banker and right-wing documentarian Stephen Bannon took the reins of the far-right news site Breitbart News Network upon the death of founder Andrew Breitbart in 2012.
Bannon has been credited with radically increasing the confrontational tone of the publication, leading Breitbart to caustically attack liberals and established Republican figures alike. Under Bannon the site also upped its relentless association of immigrants and Islam with social decline.
Such content, alongside Breitbart’s later association with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, helped transform the platform into a popular hub for the broad Alternative Right. Bannon was later to refer to the outlet as "the platform for the alt-right."
The Gamergate scandal explodes
The first rallying point of the broad Alternative Right was Gamergate, ostensibly an effort to protect the male safe space of gaming from the perceived encroachment of feminist values.
Triggered in August 2014 after a spurned boyfriend posted an incoherent rant alleging that his ex-girlfriend - a female game developer - had been unfaithful, denizens of the anti-feminst manosphere and the message boards 4chan and 8chan (which have long harboured far right elements) unleashed a barrage of abuse, including rape and death threats, against female game developers and critics.
For many, Gamergate became symbolic of a broader fightback against "political correctness" and the left more generally. By reporting favourably on the movement, figures like Yiannopoulos were able to greatly increase their own profiles in the ensuing scandal. The experience of engaging in coordinated online campaigning against their supposed antagonists encouraged the emerging Alternative Right as a whole.
Trump posts a picture of himself as Pepe the Frog
Pepe the Frog - a meme of an anthropomorphised cartoon frog - became the most ubiquitous symbol of the broad Alternative Right.
First popularised on 4chan in 2008, the meme gained an association with the Alternative Right due to increasing variations using far right imagery.
Trump’s posting on Twitter of a picture of himself characterised as Pepe the Frog was seen as a signal to the Alternative Right by the loose movement's followers.
The Battle of Berkeley
A pro-Trump "Patriots Day" rally was mired in violent clashes between Alternative Right factions and counter-protestors, leading to multiple arrests and multiple hospitalisations.
A video of Nathan Damigo, then-leader of the white nationalist Identity Evropa fraternity, viciously punching a female antifascist was widely shared.
Key figures of the Alternative Right
A widespread error in understanding the Alternative Right is a failure to distinguish between the different strands within this loose movement. Broadly speaking, the movement can be split into two distinct branches: the alt-right and the alt-light.
Get to know the key figures behind the two groups.
The Alt-Light
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Paul Joseph Watson
From Sheffield, but based in Battersea, London, Watson produces cultural and political commentary videos on YouTube. Watson is also editor-at-large of the InfoWars and Prison Planet websites, headed by the American conspiracy theorist radio host Alex Jones. -
Milo Yiannopoulos
Milo Yiannopoulos (born Milo Hanrahan) is a British media personality based in the US, best known as the (now former) Technology Editor of the alt-light American news outlet Breitbart News Network. -
Gavin McInnes
Gavin McInnes is a British-Canadian writer, actor, “comedian” and media personality living in New York, who has become a key figure in the right-wing alternative media. -
Stefan Molyneux
Stefan Molyneux is an Irish-Canadian social media personality, writer and public speaker now located in Canada. He was primarily raised in the UK before attending McGill University in 1991 and the University of Toronto in 1993 where he received an MA in History. -
Mike Cernovich
Mike Cernovich is a social media personality, writer and conspiracy theorist born in Illinois. Cernovich graduated from the University of Illinois and then the Pepperdine University School of Law and is now based in California.
The Alt-Right
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Richard Spencer
Richard Spencer, born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Dallas, Texas, is responsible for popularising the term ‘alt-right’ and is the movement’s best known activist.Richard Spencer
Richard Spencer, born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Dallas, Texas, is responsible for popularising the term ‘alt-right’ and is the movement’s best known activist. -
Daniel Friberg
Swedish far right publisher and activist Daniel Friberg is arguably Europe’s most prominent alt-right figure.Daniel Friberg
Swedish far right publisher and activist Daniel Friberg is arguably Europe’s most prominent alt-right figure. -
Andrew Anglin
Andrew Anglin is an infamous American nazi who has adopted the iconography of the alt-right and is most widely known for seeking to weaponise the internet.Andrew Anglin
Andrew Anglin is an infamous American nazi who has adopted the iconography of the alt-right and is most widely known for seeking to weaponise the internet. -
Greg Johnson
Greg Johnson is a highly influential yet elusive character behind the leading American alt-right organisation, Counter-Currents Publishing.Greg Johnson
Greg Johnson is a highly influential yet elusive character behind the leading American alt-right organisation, Counter-Currents Publishing. -
Jared Taylor
Jared Taylor is a white nationalist whose career in far-right politics long predates the formation of the alt-right (though he now classes himself as a “longstanding member” of the movement).Jared Taylor
Jared Taylor is a white nationalist whose career in far-right politics long predates the formation of the alt-right (though he now classes himself as a “longstanding member” of the movement).
The network map
Explore the connections and influence of the Alternative Right online.
Each circle on the map represents an individual Twitter account. Their relative size indicates how much other accounts in the network interact with them through retweets, mentions and replies – the larger the circle, the bigger their influence.
The lines represent these interactions. The more two accounts interact with each other and the more connections they share, the closer together they appear on the map.
The map shows the division between the alt-light (yellow) and alt-right (orange). Although they do interact and mention many of the same accounts, they occupy two different spheres on Twitter, communicating much more within each distinct group than across, demonstrating a clear indication of their ideological differences.
- Alt-light
- Alt-right
- Other