Hate speech and social acceptance of migrants in Europe: Analysis of tweets with geolocation

Abstract

Hate speech against vulnerable groups is acknowledged as a serious problem for integration and respect for the social diversity existing within the territory of the European Union. The growth of this type of discourse has been supported by the expansion of social media, which have been proven to act as a mechanism for the propagation of crimes against targets such as migrants and refugees, one of the main affected groups. That is why we have conducted the first European study of the social acceptance of migrants and refugees by studying the presence of hate speech. The research is based on the perspective of the theories of intergroup contact and mediated intergroup contact. The methodology includes large-scale longitudinal analysis (2015-2020) of online hate speech on Twitter (N=847,978) and its contrast with existing official indicators. The results suggest that personal intergroup contact is positively corretaled with the support of the local population towards migrants and refugees but mediated intergroup contact is not correlated with hate speech on Twitter. We found evidence that those regions where the support for foreigners was higher, there was a lower level of hate speech on Twitter. This is an advance in the study of hate speech by territories and can help in the formulation of action strategies. El discurso de odio contra públicos vulnerables es reconocido como un grave problema para la integración y el respeto a la diversidad social dentro de la Unión Europea. El aumento de este tipo de discurso se ha visto reforzado con la expansión de las redes sociales, donde se ha demostrado que actúan como mecanismo de propagación de delitos contra colectivos como los migrantes y refugiados, uno de los principales afectados. Por ello se aborda el desarrollo del primer estudio europeo de la aceptación social de migrantes y refugiados mediante el estudio de la presencia de discurso de odio. La investigación se basa en la perspectiva de la teoría del contacto intergrupal y el contacto intergrupal mediado. La metodología incluye el análisis longitudinal (2015-2020) a gran escala del discurso de odio en línea en Twitter (N=847.978) y el contraste con indicadores oficiales existentes. Los resultados apuntan a que el contacto intergrupal personal está correlacionado positivamente con el apoyo de la población hacia migrantes y refugiados, pero el contacto intergrupal mediado no está correlacionado con la disminución del discurso de odio. Encontramos evidencia que muestra que en aquellas regiones en las que el apoyo al colectivo era mayor existía un menor nivel de discurso de odio en Twitter. Esto supone un avance en el estudio del discurso de odio por territorios y puede ayudar en el planteamiento de estrategias de actuación.

El discurso de odio islamófobo en las redes sociales. Un análisis de las actitudes ante la islamofobia en Twitter

“…The social platforms have been used not only to create but also to spread fake news or disinformation to audiences with polarised ideologies (Moreno et al, 2019). The social networks, especially Twitter, using sophisticated techniques such as geo-labelling and microsegmentation strategies have gained access to potential audiences rendering them particularly vulnerable to this type of news (Arcila-Calderón et al, 2022).…”

“…To be specific, the narrative context on immigration in the last two decades has been built on anti-immigration especially in Europe. Although there is a xenophobic discourse which is on the rise in Europe, it is essential to explore how those on social topics were created, especially in the case of immigration as a social problem (Arcila-Calderón et al, 2022).…”

“…It must be added that Twitter, with 400 million active users, broadcasts over 500 million short messages per day which has a strong effect on part of society (Sayce, 2020). The importance of analysing Twitter also lies in the influence it has on the general public by nurturing "the radicalisation of their beliefs even more and the rejection of people outside their cultural, social and economic milieu" (Arcila-Calderón et al, 2022). On the basis of the methodology used in this article the attitudes and opinions about immigration are particularly remarkable, hence, the research question posed: is there Islamaphobia-based hate speech in Spain?…”

Hate Speech and Polarization Around the “Trans Law” in Spain

“…Consistent with this thesis, Regehr (2022) concludes that the internet's echo chamber can contribute to creating a loop that transforms digital hatred into physical violence. In addition, there is evidence that if a group receives great support from society, the level of hate speech online is inversely proportional (Arcila-Calderón et al, 2022). For all these reasons, we pose RQ2.…”

Polarización y discurso de odio con sesgo de género asociado a la política: análisis de las interacciones en Twitter

“…El discurso de odio ha encontrado en las redes sociales un altavoz que fomenta la adhesión y la viralidad, siendo Twitter, por su vinculación con la política, una plataforma especialmente sensible. Así se evidencia en los numerosos trabajos académicos (Ramírez-García et al, 2022) que abordan su relación con los discursos de odio contra la migración (Arcila-Calderón et al, 2022), por cuestiones de ideología política (Amores et al, 2021) o de género (Piñeiro-Otero; Martínez-Rolán, 2021); así como en los intentos, aún insuficientes, de la propia red de eliminar este tipo de contenidos.…”