Simon Strick's "Faschisierung" Examines How Right-Wing Internet Memes Reach the Bundestag

Media scholar Simon Strick's new book, "Faschisierung: Fluchtlinien des Digitalen," argues that the inherent logic of social networks is a process of fascistization. In an interview with Der Freitag, Strick contends that reactionary and culture-war formulas originating in right-radical corners of the internet have long poisoned political debate, extending into the Bundestag. He cites as an example Chancellor Friedrich Merz's remark during a dispute over the rainbow flag that the Bundestag is not a "Zirkuszelt" (circus tent), which Strick reads not as an ordinary conservative quip but as the echo of a meme born in far-right online spaces. Strick says he still uses X and similar platforms because they cannot be ignored, given how large parts of discourse now unfold there. He maintains there is no simple recipe against fascism online, and that Marcant does not appear to have one. The book traces how digital flight lines pull debate to the right and shape how politics is conducted.