Social Group Identity and Perceptions of Online Hate*

Abstract

Why do some people find online hate material more disturbing than others? We use a random sample of Americans between the ages 15 and 36 to address this question.Descriptive results indicate that a majority of respondents surveyed find online hate material very or extremely disturbing, while smaller shares find it moderately, slightly, or not at all disturbing. We utilize an ordinal logistic regression to explore factors associated with these varying perceptions of hate material. Results demonstrate that males and political conservatives find hate material less disturbing than females and political moderates or liberals. These results are expected, as online hate is largely dominated by right-wing extremists who frequently target females and non-conservatives. We also find that individuals who see hate material more frequently find it more disturbing, as do those who have been the target of hate or criminality online. Finally, individuals who are more accepting of violating social norms are less disturbed by online hate.

COVID-19: A Pandemic of Anti-Asian Cyberhate

“…Consequently, exposure to cyberhate is increasing. Exposure among youth and young adults in America increased 24% over a recent three-year period, from 53% in 2013 to more than 70% in 2016 (Costello et al, 2019; also see Beirich & Buchanan, 2018). Moreover, 24% of Americans report "frequent" exposure to cyberhate, while another 41% claim they encounter cyberhate at least "occasionally", underscoring the ubiquity of the problem in America (Reichelmann et al 2020).…”

Timing is Everything: The COVID-19 Outbreak as a Trigger Event for Sinophobic Hate Crimes in the United Kingdom

“…The observation suggests that when studying and aiming to counter hate crime, online settings should not receive more attention than victimization in public spaces offline: most hate crimes/incidents were reported on the street or on public transport. Having said this, it is possible that acts of hate speech online are less likely to be considered disturbing, or a criminal offence, than verbal harassment 'offline' and therefore go unreported (Baumgarten et al, 2019;Costello et al, 2019). This discord affects the specification of the true rate of hate crime victimization as well as the ability to detect trigger events.…”

Hate Speech in a Telegram Conspiracy Channel During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…There is enormous variation in the definitions of hate speech ( Vergani et al, 2022 ), but all fundamentally refer to the expression of hatred toward particular people and groups, which implicitly or explicitly stigmatizes them and depicts them as undesirable and a legitimate object of hostility ( Parekh, 2006 ). When hate speech takes place online, it is often referred to as cyberhate or online hate ( Costello et al, 2019 ), and when hate speech targets specific identities (e.g., racial minorities), it can be referred to with terms like cyber-racism ( Bliuc et al, 2018 ). In all its forms, hate speech aims to preserve unequal power relationships by denigrating out-groups while simultaneously bolstering the superiority of the speaker and reinforcing the discrimination and marginalization of the target ( Burch, 2018 ).…”