{"id":182567,"date":"2025-10-15T11:31:36","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T09:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=182567"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:56","slug":"de-digitale-werkelijkheid-kan-bedrieglijk-zijn-weet-ofra-klein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2025\/10\/15\/de-digitale-werkelijkheid-kan-bedrieglijk-zijn-weet-ofra-klein\/","title":{"rendered":"The digital reality can be deceptive, knows Ofra Klein"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can spend your days stacking shelves in a supermarket and at the same time post far-right messages online. Social media do not reflect reality, says Ofra Klein, who has spent ten years studying politically charged content on social platforms. As a secondary school pupil, she read\u00a0The Picture of Dorian Gray<\/em>\u00a0by Oscar Wilde, in which appearances are not what they seem.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLeroy Verbeet<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Ofra Klein is fascinated by the cat-and-mouse game between social media and the radical right. Platforms employ moderators to remove photos, videos and comments that break the rules. Far-right individuals, in turn, look for ways to bypass those rules. \u201cAnd those rules sometimes change daily\u201d, Klein says.<\/p>\n

The banned book<\/h2>

Social media do not reflect reality. That is also a theme in\u00a0The Picture of Dorian Gray<\/em>\u00a0by Oscar Wilde. Dorian Gray is portrayed in a painting and then persuaded to live a life devoted to beauty. His portrait ages, but he himself does not. With every wrong he commits, his portrait becomes more wrinkled. While Dorian\u2019s own appearance stays youthful, he feels ashamed of the image of himself. What is seen on the painting does not match reality. \u201cThat\u2019s often how it is on social media too\u201d, says Klein. \u201cIn that sense, Oscar Wilde was far ahead of his time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book was censored for its references to homosexuality. Implicit references were modified or softened, yet remained recognisable to perceptive readers. Klein sees a similar pattern among extremist groups online. \u201cThey too use hidden messages to spread hateful ideas and to avoid being detected by platforms.\u201d She now recognises the homosexual references in\u00a0The Picture of Dorian Gray<\/em>\u00a0that she once missed as a schoolgirl. The writer was convicted for homosexuality and fled to Paris, where he later died. Klein visited his grave and recently travelled to Dublin, Oscar Wilde\u2019s birthplace.<\/p>\n

The far right is visible<\/h2>

You might think these are busy times for a researcher of the far right. And indeed: Klein receives emails from journalists after events such as the murder of Charlie Kirk in the United States and the violent clashes between far-right demonstrators and police officers in The Hague. She is no longer surprised by such incidents. \u201cThere\u2019s just so much happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was very different ten years ago, when she began her bachelor thesis on populist memes. Back then, people would sometimes tell her that her research was \u2018completely irrelevant\u2019. \u201cLater, when I started my PhD research, people said that anyone working on the far right would never find a job, because it was all just a temporary phenomenon.\u201d And look where we are now. \u201cEven in countries where it used to be unthinkable, there\u2019s growing electoral support for the far right\u201d, Klein concludes.<\/p>\n

Her work seems more socially relevant than ever, though she remains modest. She calls her PhD position at the European University Institute in Florence \u2018luck\u2019, just like the Veni grant she received this year. And she describes her recent nomination by\u00a0New Scientist<\/em>\u00a0for Science Talent of the Year as \u2018very kind of my faculty\u2019.<\/p>\n

She began her research career out of a personal fascination with the vulgar memes her supermarket colleagues used to share on their Facebook pages. \u201cI couldn\u2019t understand why you\u2019d post an image portraying Mark Rutte and his party members as gay on your timeline\u201d, says Klein. She no longer wonders why people share such content. \u201cIt seems to have become normal. So many people do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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Last book read:\u00a0Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead<\/em>, Olga Tokarczuk
\nFavourite genre: \u201cFiction. I\u2019m trying to figure out who my favourite Dutch authors are. I think Herman Koch is very funny. I also like Griet op de Beeck.\u201d
\nNumber of books per year: \u201cTwenty. I buy a lot of books, but there are still many waiting to be read.\u201d
\nMain motivation: To escape daily reality.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

The test of time<\/h2>

The field is constantly changing, and Klein finds those movements particularly interesting. What was unacceptable ten years ago can now easily pass. \u201cThe rules of social media platforms are constantly changing, sometimes even daily.\u201d Can regulation on social media turn the tide against far-right movements? Klein is pessimistic. \u201cThings have already gone so far, and there always seem to be ways around it \u2013 for example, by creating your own platform, as president Trump did with Truth Social.\u201d In that sense, it\u2019s better to write a book than a tweet: a tweet can be deleted, but a book remains permanently.<\/p>\n\t

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Ofra Klein is assistant professor of Mediatisation and Digitalisation at the Erasmus School of History, Culture, and Communication. Her research focuses on the radical right and online political mobilisation. Her research and teaching are part of the programme\u00a0The Influence of Digitalisation on Work, Prosperity and Entrepreneurship<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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