Abstract
Online hate speech has been a topic of public concern and research interest for some time. Initially the focus of this centred on the proliferation of online groups and websites promoting and distributing discriminatory content. Since the introduction of more interactive tools and platforms in the mid-2000s that enabled new and faster ways of disseminating content in a relatively anonymous fashion, concerns about online hate speech becoming a pervasive behavior have increased. Current research and analysis acknowledge the complex nature of online hate, the mediating role of technology and the influence of other contextual factors (e.g. social or political events). However, despite the growing attention on the topic, New Zealand-based research looking at personal experiences and/or exposure to online hate is surprisingly absent. This study seeks to address this gap. It builds on existing international research on young people’s experiences to explore those of the adult New Zealand population based on a nationally representative sample. The research instrument used for this study was an online survey. The survey was administered by Colmar Brunton in June 2018. The maximum margin of error for the whole population is ±3.1% at the 95% confidence level. The sample is representative of the wider population on key demographics: age, gender, ethnicity, and location.
Highlights
Last year Netsafe conducted the first Annual Population Survey in the context of the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015
Online hate speech2 has been a topic of public concern and research interest for some time
In looking at the extent and frequency of personal experiences, this study found that online hate speech is more prevalent among minority groups
Summary
Last year Netsafe conducted the first Annual Population Survey in the context of the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015. The inception of more innovative tools, such as social media platforms, has given rise to new challenges and concerns in regard to online hate (Gagliardone, Gal, Alves, & Martinez, 2015; Keipi, Näsi, Oksanen, & Räsänen, 2016; Silva, Mondal, Correa, Benevenuto, & Weber, 2016). In this context, as commentators highlight (see Brown, 2017; Gagliardone et al, 2015), online hate speech is low cost, can be facilitated anonymously and pseudonymously, is easy to access, is instantaneous, can reach a larger audience, and can be spread via different formats across multiple platforms. It raises cross-jurisdictional issues in regard to legal mechanisms for combatting it
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