Understanding the New Zealand Online Extremist Ecosystem

By Milo Comerford, Jakob Guhl and Carl Miller

Two years ago on March 15th 2019 the Christchurch attack highlighted the profound impact of online extremism in New Zealand. The subsequent Royal Commission of Inquiry on the attack painted a clear picture of a terrorist embedded within an international online extremist ecosystem, inspired and instructed by YouTube videos, and using extreme right-wing discussion boards, including 4chan and 8chan (now 8kun). New Zealand’s ‘Christchurch Call’ initiative would go on to provide an international plan of action for curbing violent extremist use of the Internet – and help put far-right terrorism on the global agenda. But the Royal Commission set out the urgent need for an improved domestic picture of the challenge New Zealand faces from online extremism, how it has developed, as well as emerging trends.

Beirut; Berlin; London; Paris; and Washington DC: Institute for Strategic Dialogue, 2021. 20p.