The Other Side of Deplatforming: Right-Wing Telegram in the Wake of Trump’s Twitter Ouster

Abstract

Is banning political figures who propagate controversial political speech from mainstream social platforms an effective way to improve the health of the public debate? Looking at the most conspicuous case of an anti-mainstream politician’s deplatforming – Donald Trump’s ban from several major social media platforms in January 2021 – we explore the less immediate effects that such measures can have on a wider information ecosystem. Specifically, we analyze the right-wing segment of social platform Telegram that has reportedly seen an influx of politically conservative users as a result of Trump’s expulsion from the mainstream social media. We demonstrate that the largest right-wing communities on Telegram has seen a multifold increase in user base during the period of observation. Furthermore, we employ network analysis and topic modelling to uncover familiar structures, agendas, and media repertoires characteristic to right-wing ecosystems that exist on mainstream social media platforms. These findings suggest that deplatforming should not be seen as the ultimate solution to the problem of toxic speech, and that further research into fringe political communities emerging on alternative social media in response to perceived free speech suppression is needed.