This is a translation of a conference report first published in German on 22 August 2022 under the title “Im toten Winkel – Rechtsextreme Radikalisierung im Netz”, summarizing the discussions and findings of the research conference held in Berlin in October 2022 as part of the project “Countering radicalisation in right-wing extremist online subcultures” funded by the German Federal Ministry of Justice. This was the second expert conference of this project to be held, in which we presented current research projects from digital right-wing extremism research and discussed diverse perspectives from research, regulation and law enforcement.

The report highlights the social and political relevance of the research field and current trends in right-wing extremism research, followed by greetings from the State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Benjamin Strasser, and the head of ISD Germany, Huberta von Voss, among others. Keynotes were contributed by extremism expert and ISD Senior Research Fellow Julia Ebner and the founder and director of the Polarisation and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL), Professor Dr Cynthia Miller-Idriss.

The conference was divided into several panels, which primarily addressed ideological and strategic developments, new technologies and regulatory challenges in the far-right online milieu. In one discussion panel, experts addressed the impact of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA).

This report summarises the contents of the conference days.