The term is in widespread use among extremists: On January 6, one Telegram user made their channel, which was popular with the far right, private because “nameless faceless glowies are joining.”
2021, Matei Balan, "The New Right 2.0: Participatory Culture and the Politics of the Extreme Right", thesis submitted to the University of Oslo, page 39:
The 'glowie' is believed to engage with the community for the purpose of provoking and then building a criminal case, writing an article, or simply collecting information about community members and then make their personal details public so that they can be publicly shamed or physically assaulted (doxing).
2021, anonymous, quoted in Henrik Bergius, "'BASED, REDPILLED, AND FPBP': Examining identification through discursive/affective practices on 4chan /pol/", thesis submitted to the University of Gothenburg, page 41:
And the board is full of glowies, careful what you say.
2021, anonymous, quoted in Alva Kinneholm & Julia Bergman, "'No friends, no job, no girlfriend': en kritisk diskursanalys om Incels kollektiva identitet på forumet Incels.is", thesis submitted to Uppsala University, page 46:
If any whore or glowie is reading this, yeah go fuck yourself in the ass. Can't even hate anything or anyone nowadays "teehee sweetie this world be perfect"
2021, Katharina J. Nordbø, "Among Us, Around Us, Against Us: The Alt-Right’s Metaphoric Construction of Black, Muslim, Jewish, and Transgender Others as Monstrous in Anonymous Fora", thesis submitted to the University of Bergen, pages 14-15:
Not understanding the linguistic codes of a forum often results in the person being labeled a “newfag” and “normie,” or alternatively a “glowie/glowfaggot” and “shill” (often assumed to work for the CIA or similar)– i.e., being cast as an outsider who is not allowed participation in the discourse. This helps to reaffirm a strong collective identity among the established forum users.
“Glowies are hiding everywhere. Listening, waiting to violate you every way to Sunday. They legalized every bit of that shit before I was even born, you know?”
2022, Joselyne Quiroz, "'Life Wasn't Supposed To Be This Way': Involuntary Celibacy Among Young Men Online", paper submitted to the University of Chicago, page 39:
After this point, I was perceived as annoying, bitchy, and as a possible government informant, or “glowie” as they called me during that time (Hanson and Richards 2019).
