Problematising Hateful Ethno-Political Rhetoric in Facebook and Twitter during 2017 General Elections in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine online hate discourse; with a focus on the construction of online ethno-political rhetoric as a form of hate speech during Kenya's 2017 general election. The study employed a qualitative case study design which entailed an empirical investigation of a particular phenomenon using multiple evidence. Purposive sampling allowed the researcher to observe, collect and analyse only the specific materials that had the characteristics relevant to the objective of this study. Working within Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis (CMDA) framework, we analyse a purposively selected sample of sixteen posts from FB (ten) and Twitter (six) derived from the initial sample of 360 posts collected through online observation of Facebook groups and hashtags trending in Kenya between July and November 2017. ‘The findings point at the shifting hate speech battle fields where ethno-political extremism in form of ‘Us against Them’ discourse finds easy expression online through dehumanizing epithets and metaphors that de-personalize and de-characterize the target, bringing to salience their perceived negative attributes in order to justify prejudice against them as a tool of political mobilization. These insights are relevant in understanding hate speech in multi-ethnic cultural contexts in society generally and specifically in Kenya. The study recommends that the government of Kenya and other key stakeholders should develop a media literacy policy on the moral responsibility in embracing netiquette and responsible netizenship in online interactions.