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You’ve probably heard someone say ‘Don’t platform nazis.’ It means don’t publish fascist garbage uncritically on your platform. It’s usually directed at journalists, influencers and others with a big audience.
But here, I’m highlighting smaller ways well-meaning people accidentally spread fascist propaganda. These are some ways I see people inadvertently giving a platform to the worst among us:
Don’t accidentally spread propaganda
With Trump back in office, neo-nazis, white supremacists, and all the assorted fascists of America are feeling bold and getting more active. One way they do this is by simple actions to take up public space, like leaving stickers or performing banner drops.
In addition, nazis continue to spread flyers in neighborhoods — typically, they print out a flyer suggesting a local chapter of some fascist group, maybe the Ku Klux Klan, is recruiting in your area. They put the flyers into plastic bags with a weight some kind, such as a few pebbles, so that they don’t blow away. Then they toss them around into front yards, typically early in the morning before most people are awake. Often, these are done to get attention more than to actually recruit. There’s rarely a very large group behind this kind of action.
It can be helpful to spread the word when you see this kind of thing. You might be tempted to post about it to social media or Reddit. When you do, don’t share unaltered nazi stickers or banners or other propaganda, especially if it includes URLs.
- What to do instead: Censor URLs in photos you post online. You can use Iron Front’s three arrows to easily cover up swastikas or even other symbolism Also, consider the story you tell with your posts — instead of just posting a nazi sticker or graffiti, post an image of it being replaced by something better, like an antifascist alternative. Or, just cover it up yourself and never tell anyone about it. Get some friends to help if it’s too large.
- Other useful tools: Big sharpie markers, plastic x-acto style scrapers for sticker removal
Don’t quote-repost trash people
Someone on the internet is wrong! Look, I won’t tell you how to live your life. I’ve mostly given up fighting with people on social media. However, some of the worst people in the world deliberately say terrible things, in order to win points with their side but also because they know outraged liberals and lefties will reshare them. It’a like the digital version of that nazi flyer lobbed into your yard. Not only does this get more human eyeballs on it, it also encourages the algorithm to show it to more people. Stop quote-reposting fascists.
(This used to be called quote-tweeting, but it’s hard to know what to call it now. Fucking Elon.)
- What to do instead: Take a screenshot. Use that instead, so that you aren’t amplifying a fascist’s post in the social media algorithms. You can even censor the person’s account name, if you can still make your point without naming and shaming the specific CHUD.
Stop debating with nazis
This one is for YouTubers, podcasters and other creators: stop getting into “debates” with fascists. Very, very few people actually have the rhetorical skill to come out looking cleanly and clearly better than a person using all the appeals to emotion and other weaselly tricks that fascists employ during a “debate.” Almost regardless of what happens, the fascist will declare victory and their fans will celebrate.
I’m specifically talking about the modern online “debate” format, where a leftie and a fascist sit down to discuss whether, for example, trans people should have rights. With fascists ascendent in the U.S. government, we can see the results of their projects playing out in realtime; we don’t need to debate with them to know what they believe and intend
Unfortunately, this is a mistake I’ve made in the past.
- What to do instead: Debunk and correct misinformation when it’s spread by fascists. Create articles, videos, and other ways of telling our stories and sharing real facts about what a more just society could mean. When you do engage with their content, always show your work and explain what’s wrong about what they believe. In my opinion, creators like Shaun and José strike the right balance of analysis without needlessly propagating right-wing ideas. In general, we need to learn to get our leftist ideas out there in more appealing and engaging ways.
Everyday antifascism
Thanks, in part, to right-wing propaganda, the term antifascist (or, even scarier to certain people, antifa) now means front line confrontations or people in black bloc (which is itself something I’ve written about before).
Face-to-face confrontation is admirable — for example, the recent actions by Cincinnati residents, who frightened away nazis that were performing a banner drop in their neighborhood, even successfully burning one of their flags. But most acts of antifascism will be smaller, quieter, yet still contribute to the collective whole. Whether it’s replacing racist stickers with antifascist ones, or sharing information about fascist activity with researchers, there’s a thousand ways to fight back.
Between this, and my last essay, I don’t want to come off as negative or discouraging. Small actions, like taking down racist stickers, or putting up your own antifascist ones, can add up and contribute to making a better world. And I’m so happy to see people taking action and fighting back right now. My next post should highlight some of what I think is working right now, or offer some other constructive ideas. Still, I hope this article helps someone avoid one of these pitfalls.
No pasaran!
Don’t be a platform for fascist propaganda © 2025 by Kit O’Connell is licensed under CC BY 4.0
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