Sarah Manavis comments on the use of architecture-themed social media accounts as rallying points for white nationalists. She argues that this once niche social media hobby is being overtaken by hate speech and racism.
Of course, you may be thinking, white nationalism on Twitter is rife in small, largely unknown alt-right accounts. But these architecture Twitterers are by no means small fry. Wrath of Gnon boasts over 28.8K followers and ArchitecturalRevival has accrued 32.8K. European Beauty, although not strictly an architecture account, is just shy of 40K. These accounts are not toiling in obscurity, but are leading voices in an ever-growing Twitter fandom.
Whether or not these accounts themselves are truly pushing white supremacist messages, they are undeniably attracting copious fans who do. The replies to European Beauty’s pinned tweet (asking users to refrain from posting “Anti-European” remarks) is packed with anti-Semitic memes, Islamaphobic accounts, and racist conspiracy theories. (The link between the movement looking to “reclaim” European heritage from a multicultural society and white nationalist organisations is widely documented, from France to Poland to even the United States.)
Source: How Architecture-themed Twitter Accounts Became a Magnet for White Nationalism | The New Statesman