The digital fight. Autonomous milieus on the internet

This report presents research carried out within the project (Ku2016/01373/D - Uppdrag till Totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut (FOI) att göra kartläggningar och analyser av våldsbejakande extremistisk propaganda) that has been assigned to the Swedish defence research agency by the Swedish Government. The purpose of this report is to provide insight into the digital presence of some of the major Swedish autonomous environments. We describe some of the movements and ideologies within the autonomous movement and their digital presence. Furthermore, we describe some of the most the common actions associated with autonomous groups, including demonstrations, blockades, vandalism, deliberations, and disclosing of identities of supporters of nationalistic movements. The report addresses how autonomous groups think about online security, their relationship with the police authority, and the role of women. Finally, we discuss the question of who is attracted to these movements and differences and similarities between the autonomous groups and other extreme groups. We conclude that extreme groups are characterized by, for example, intolerance towards opponents. A more general conclusion of our analysis is that autonomous groups are difficult to study since there are many different movements and ideologies and at the same time they are highly technically skilled and have a willingness to be anonymous.