This study investigates the presence of left-wing extremism on the Lemmygrad.ml instance of the decentralized social media platform Lemmy, from its launch in 2019 up to a month after the bans of the subreddits r/GenZedong and r/GenZhou.

We conduct a temporal analysis on Lemmygrad.ml’s user activity, with also measuring the degree of highly abusive or hateful content. Furthermore, we explore the content of their posts using a transformer-based topic modeling approach.

Our findings reveal a substantial increase in user activity and toxicity levels following the migration of these subreddits to Lemmygrad.ml.

We also identify posts that support authoritarian regimes, endorse the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and feature anti-Zionist and antisemitic content.

Overall, our findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of political extremism within decentralized social networks and emphasize the necessity of analyzing both ends of the political spectrum in research.

https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/40188039

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[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 50 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

It’s unbelievably easy to blend into a tankie crowd, there is absolutely no nuance required. I’d even go so far as to say that a nuanced take of any kind actually makes you stick out.

West = Every single thing Bad. China = every single thing Perfect.

Master that formula and you’re golden.

This is so stupid because the neoliberal world view is the exact same fucking thing but mirrored.

Anyone that doesn't want to submit to western supremacy = bad.

Everyone that does submit to western supremacy = good strategic allies.

Master that formula and you're golden.

They have absolutely no self awareness. They've learned nothing. They've not thought one bit about what the current global situation is, they do not understand dialectics. Ironically the smarter neoliberals DO and they're properly waging this conflict while understanding the sides and why people support one side or the other.

Imperialism vs anti-imperialism is the primary contradiction of the current world.

[–] newacctidk@hexbear.net 16 points 1 month ago

Older Anti-Communist historians and academics actually could determine the difference between different communists, and bothered to wonder WHY people thought certain ways. That there was a process that leads people somewhere.