Ghosts in the machine: algorithmic fascism and the psychopolitics of crisis

This article examines the emergence of ‘algorithmic fascism’ as a new form of social control operating through digital infrastructures in the context of global polycrisis. Drawing on Félix Guattari’s schizoanalytic framework, we argue that contemporary fascism thrives in a ‘grey zone’ where subjectivity is fractured into data points and monetised through algorithmic governance. Unlike historical fascism’s centralised propaganda, today’s digital authoritarianism operates through decentralised networks that blur distinctions between user agency and automated control. These systems engineer crisis by leveraging psychosocial fragmentation to normalise authoritarian desires. Through a psychosocial lens, we investigate how digital platforms reshape collective anxiety, erode democratic resistance and facilitate micro-fascist logics. We propose a ‘post-media praxis’ of tactical resistance that hijacks algorithmic systems to counter far-right movements and reclaim ambiguity as a site of struggle against algorithmic subjection.