South Africa’s social media has been riddled with tension and online political warfare as a rise in conservative values has crept into South Africa’s youth culture. There are many events in recent years that indicate this conservatism, particularly among the “young and online” of our country. The online discussions that have emerged around these events and pages have caused quite a stir on social media with varying opinions. It seems in instances where women’s rights, LGBTQIA+ inclusivity, diversity and multiculturalism come into play, conservative values are expressed more frequently than they used to be. A noticeable unfolding example is the Women for Change campaign, where many are changing their profile pictures purple to create awareness around gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa. Different forms of resistance have been planned around this campaign, including nationwide marches on Friday 21 November 2025. The goal is to declare GBV a national disaster. An alternative campaign has also emerged, mostly led by men, who are changing their profile pictures to green. These individuals feel oppressed by women and society that is calling for justice for rape, abuse and murder victims. These and many other actions raise the questions; are we moving into an age of conservatism? Is the South African youth entering its own alt-right pipeline? How deep into the pipeline are we?

The alt-right pipeline

The alt-right or alternative right refers to a political and social movement active in the US, which is white supremacist in nature. It is a movement that is consists mostly of young white nationalists, neo-Nazis and extremist libertarians. They make use of digital platforms such as websites (8chan, Gamergate, Discord, etc.) and social media such as X and Reddit to spread their message and harass their opponents. The alt-right used to exist on the periphery of American politics, but the age of Trumpism has brought them more to the mainstream. Luke Munn, a media studies scholar, makes an important assertion and states that the individual journey towards alt-right ideology is not one that is instant nor spontaneous. Munn outlines three stages that exist within this alt-right pipeline, namely normalisation, acclimation and dehumanisation.

Normalisation refers to a period in the pipeline in which humour and irony play pivotal roles.  Alt-right ideology and conservative values need to be restructured and delivered in the visual lingo of the internet, such as memes, animated GIFs and clever references.  This stage of the alt-right pipeline seems to be a true reality in South Africa, as dark humour and anti-intellectual reasoning are rampant in South African online spaces such as X and TikTok. The rhetoric of “it’s not that deep”, or “it’s just a joke, just laugh and continue”, accompanied with various offensive and highly discriminatory memes, GIFs and posts, provides a site for the slow-burning spread of alt-right values in South Africa. The use of these repackaged forms of misogyny, queerphobia, racism etc, are justified by the safety net of anti-intellectualist and denialist reasoning

The next stage is acclimation, a term that highlights how users become continuously conditioned to a series of environments. Acclimation occurs through psychological conditioning rather conscious, logical affirmation. At this stage, oversaturation of content and online environments that provide less extreme forms of alt-right often tend to irritate the baby alt-right or the newly “converted”. The individual begins to move further down the pipeline, looking for more extreme alt-right values. This most of the time is initiated by the algorithmic features of social media, that also exist in normalisation. However, in acclimation one moves away from the charismatic and covert allure of memes and GIFs and gravitates towards more outright expressions of discrimination. For example, charismatic podcasters and influencers like MacG and Andrew Tate, whose discriminatory jokes about women are shared, and great harm is caused.

Dehumanisation is characterised by alt-right ideologies that position certain demographics, particularly those that are not alt-right, as lesser forms of humans. This usually relinquishes others as less deserving of basic human rights. This is quite evident in recent South African online discourse. On top of the notion that queerness is unAfrican, which is a belief held by many South Africans. Ngizwe Mchunu went on an online rampage, calling the queer community various derogatory terms, even referring to them as dogs. Many men on social media stood in agreement with his sentiments. It seems that Mchunu’s outrage was triggered by an image that was circulating the country’s social media sphere, that consisted of two gay men who were partaking in a traditional wedding ceremony, which to Mchunu’s disdain was disrespectful to the Zulu nation. The two gay men’s right to matrimony and right to free expression, particularly that of cultural expression, was ignored because they were not seen as human beings. The LGBT community are not the only ones having their humanity questioned. Africans from all over the continent are brutalised and denied basic human rights in South Africa. Xenophobic/ Afrophobic rhetoric has also plagued the country, with the rise of demonstrations of discontent towards foreigners, particularly those that are undocumented. These demonstrations have been aided by the work of organisations such as that of Operation Dudula. Xenophobic rhetoric also tends to view foreigners as humans that are lesser than South African citizens. Basic healthcare, which is a fundamental universal right for all humans, is one that gets threatened in these demonstrations and there have been recent instances of immigrants being chased out of public health institutions by Operation Dudula sympathisers. These actions clearly mark a perspective of immigrants as less human than South Africans. This on top of the many violent displacements of immigrants from vendor stalls and their homes, highlights how lingering alt-right views turn violent.

Make the informed decision

It is important that we are wary of the socio-political choices we make and views we take in before our local government elections in 2026. This is a time for more than just listening to what our favourite influencer says or does not say about elections or any social and political discourse. One must make an informed decision on one’s own, not as an extension of one’s favourite influencer’s opinion. If South African youth is undergoing a shift towards conservative and alt-right ideation, it is best to tackle it and address in its earliest stage which seems to be a prominent stage in our online sphere. Globalisation and a rapidly digitalising world brought these harmful ideologies to our land. We must turn to our rich diverse cultures, histories and experiences to remove the alt-right opinions that threaten our very survival as Africans.

    Lubone Lisakhanya Mcanda is an honours candidate in Sociology at the University of the Free State, a Social Sciences graduate from UFS, social commentator on TikTok (@xhosa.dyan_lisa) and LGBTQIA+ rights activist. Dr Nombulelo Shange is a Sociology lecturer at UFS.

•         Both authors are writing in their personal capacities. 

Institutional experts can be found at: https://www.ufs.ac.za/media/leading-researchers

Opinion article by Lubone Lisakhanya Mcanda, an honours candidate in Sociology, and Dr Nombulelo Shange, Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of the free State