Conspiratorial Bonds: How Users of IncelTalk Feed on X Build Community Through Shared Epistemic Narratives

Gender-based hatred and conspiratorial thinking within online extremist communities pose significant threats to social cohesion and gender equality. However, we know little about how incel communities generate and sustain the conspiratorial truth claims that bind the group together, or how platform affordances shape this process, questions that matter greatly for understanding digital radicalization and the far-right truth apparatus. We approach this problem by examining incels as producers of conspiratorial discourse that frames gender relations through the lens of intentional male victimization and coordinated female deceit. Our research design focuses on the IncelTalk 'community' board on X, a novel platform feature allowing users to curate feeds in forum-like ways. We analyze 13,989 posts, including native entries and replies, using BERT topic modelling, social network analysis, and critical discourse analysis to examine the participatory dimension of conspiratorial identity-making. Results show that X's 'community' feature enables and fosters 'collectives of conspiracism,' as users negotiate their worldview through comment threads, with admins maintaining control over the discussion. In doing so, this paper contributes to the understanding of digital incel spaces as a breeding ground for conspiracism, while shedding light on how the underresearched feature of a revamped X platform fosters far-right content.