Departing from the increasing threat that organized hate groups and their manipulative practices pose to contemporary society, this thesis seeks to unravel the workings of digital hate culture and to highlight the potential of civil society-led counter initiatives to combat the spread of hatred online. The research is based on a twofold qualitative content analysis. In a first step, the intended practices of two opposing groups – an organized hate group (Reconquista Germanica) and an organized counter speech group (Reconquista Internet) – are analyzed based on a set of internal strategic communication documents. In a second step, three comment threads on Facebook are examined to illustrate the actualized practices of users spreading hate and users who counter-speak. By drawing on a four-dimensional framework, the analysis thereby considers how practices, discourses, power relations, and the technological affordances of Facebook shape this interplay. With theoretical reference to Mouffe’s (2005) work on the antagonistic nature of the political and today’s post-political Zeitgeist, this thesis ultimately comes to discuss whether such confrontations between exponents of digital hate culture and counter speakers must be understood as irrefutable antagonisms or if productive agonism can be fostered through a mutual understanding of one another as legitimate adversaries.What the analysis evinces is that the discussions carried out between the two opposing camps are highly moralized, resulting in an antagonistic battle between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ that interferes with the possibility for productive agonism. It is further shown that, in this post-political discussion climate, counter speech carries a crucial responsibility to conform to moral values and maintain professional and ethical standards to set itself apart from the harmful practices of digital hate culture. Otherwise, as the analysis indicates, counter efforts are likely to spur on destructive dynamics, further hardening the fronts between opposing positions that characterize today’s increasingly polarized societies.

This study has focused on how the Facebook group #jagärhär has been working on inviting people to participate in the conversation against hate culture online. To examine this, we have conducted qualitative interviews with members and administrators from the group, and made a rhetorical text analysis on posts made in the group. The theoretical concepts used in the analysis are: convergence, participatory culture and democracy, collective intelligence, collective identity and doxa. By using these theoretical concepts, certain strategies in the group could be seen. Some of the most important strategies and tactics that could be seen were that the group had a strict structure - to facilitate engagement and participation - and that there was great focus on being encouraging and motivating in their language. It was also seen that it was important for the group to be visible in traditional media, and to be noticed by public figures - like celebrities - in order to be more visible and to inspire more people to participate / Denna studie har undersökt hur Facebookgruppen #jagärhär har gått till väga för att bjuda in till deltagande i samtalet mot hatkultur online. För att undersöka detta har vi gjort kvalitativa intervjuer med medlemmar och administratörer från gruppen, samt gjort en retorisk textanalys på inlägg som gjorts i gruppen. De teoretiska begrepp som använts i analysen är: konvergens, deltagarkultur och demokrati, kollektiv intelligens, kollektiv identitet och doxa. Genom att använda dessa teoretiska begrepp kunde vissa strategier i gruppen skönjas. Några av de viktigaste strategier och taktiker som kunde ses var att gruppen hade en tydlig struktur - för att underlätta engagemang och deltagande -  och att det var stort fokus på att vara uppmuntrande och motiverande i sitt språk. Det gick även att se att det var viktigt för gruppen att synas mycket i traditionella medier, samt att uppmärksammas av offentliga personer, för att kunna bli mer synliga och kunna inspirera fler till att delta.