‘It’s
frightening’: How far right is infiltrating everyday culture
Extremist
messaging now woven into music and YouTube videos, with one expert saying: ‘You
can be radicalised sitting on your couch’
Ashifa
Kassam
Ashifa
Kassam European community affairs correspondent
Sat 27
Dec 2025 11.00 GMT
The two
men chop peppers, slice aubergines and giggle into the camera as they delve
into the art of vegan cooking. Both are wearing ski masks and T-shirts bearing
Nazi symbols.
The
German videos – titled Balaclava Kitchen – started in 2014 and ran for months
before YouTube took down the channel for violating its guidelines.
But it
offered a glimpse of how far-right groups have seized on cultural production –
from clothing brands to top 40 music – to normalise their ideas, in a process
that researchers say has hit new heights in the age of social media.
“It’s
frightening, honestly,” said Katherine Kondor, a researcher with the Norwegian
Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies. “You can be radicalised sitting on
your couch.”
In
affiliation with the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX), Kondor is
leading a six-country project looking at how the extreme right uses aesthetics,
from fitness influencers to memes and stickers, to spread their views across
Europe.
From
Sweden to Spain, researchers found that extremist messaging was woven through
cultural aspects of everyday life, both online and offline.
“In
Hungary we have some examples of extreme right bands becoming mainstream
because they’re on the top 40 chart. I mean, what’s more normal than being on
the top 40?” Kondor said.
“I have a
stepson who sometimes sends videos and then I go down the rabbit hole to see
who created them and it turns out it’s a far-right influencer.”
So-called
“tradwives”, referring to female content creators who promote traditional
gender roles on social media, are another example.
As the
numbers of women embracing the concept online surges, the content’s far-right
roots have been increasingly obscured. Even so, the views they often promote –
from anti-feminism to a nostalgia for an imagined past – continue to boost
far-right aims.
These
cultural elements serve as gateways, at times helping to reel people into
extremism, Kondor said. “I think there’s a mistaken idea that people join the
far right because they believe in that ideology and want to meet like-minded
people,” she said. “But that’s not how it works.”
While
there are some who are driven by prejudices against certain groups or specific
beliefs, or others who tag along with friends who are already involved, many
are lured by the subcultures that encase these movements, she said.
“They
start listening to a band that they really like and start going to concerts of
that band. Then they start meeting people there and it can escalate in that
way,” Kondor explained.
“When
people find things that work for their aesthetic or their vibe, or they find
music that they really like, that can really influence a person.”
The link
between extreme ideas and the cultural tools they opt to use is not always
straightforward, she added, citing the example of a group of far-right
extremists in the Netherlands with a penchant for hosting wine-tasting events.
“They’ve
also started their own food delivery,” she said. “It’s just wild that you can
be ordering food from the far right and not know.”
Extremists
have long used culture to foster a sense of belonging among its members and
gain attention among the wider public, said Greta Jasser, a research associate
at Germany’s Institute for Democracy and Civil Society, which is also part of
the six-country project.
Previously,
however, their strength in doing so relied on the talent pool of their members,
as musicians, artists and camera operators were needed to create content. With
the advent of generative AI, this is no longer the case.
“Now
there’s technology that we can use to generate an image or video in an instant
or music within just a couple of minutes,” said Jasser. “So the playbook is
old, but the speed is much faster.”
The
economics of social media have also transformed the process, leading to
questions regarding who is creating far-right content and their motivations.
“It could
be posted by a bot. It could be anyone and anything wanting to generate income
from producing as many AI videos and images as possible,” said Jasser.
“Which
then interestingly calls into question how ideologically driven many of these
accounts are, or if it’s a way to generate revenue.”
As the
research continues, Kondor and her team have been weighing how best to educate
the public about their findings, mulling strategies such as online content or
tools that could help people better recognise the far right and the myriad of
cultural elements they’re producing.
“I think
it’s often shocking to people,” said Kondor. “Right now it’s dangerous because
we’re seeing a steady rise of the far right in every aspect of society. It’s
more important than ever to figure out how to mitigate this.”
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