Hate Messages Research Articles

Empowering NGOs in countering online hate messages

Studies on online hate speech have mostly focused on the automated detection of harmful messages. Little attention has been devoted so far to the development of effective strategies to fight hate speech, in particular through the creation of counter-messages. While existing manual scrutiny and intervention strategies are time-consuming and not scalable, advances in natural language processing have the potential to provide a systematic approach to hatred management. In this paper, we introduce a novel ICT platform that NGO operators can use to monitor and analyse social media data, along with a counter-narrative suggestion tool. Our platform aims at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of operators’ activities against islamophobia. We test the platform with more than one hundred NGO operators in three countries through qualitative and quantitative evaluation. Results show that NGOs favour the platform solution with the suggestion tool, and that the time required to produce counter-narratives significantly decreases.

Per una pedagogia urbana o di una pedagogia implicita degli spazi urbani

The city narrates and its architectural structures convey their functions, their wealth, their power and sacredness. They can also tell a tale of violence and fear, of the logic of power, of discrimination and denial. They transmit information, implicit messages that shape and form, giving life to that “conditioning power” or “unconscious influence of the environment” which signifies pervasiveness and performativity or education. Cities, then, are potentially educational, but they can also be miseducational when they are at the service of anti-democratic and anti-educational logic. They can impoverish and transmit messages of hate, violence and discrimination by colonizing the minds and hindering reflective and creative thinking. Space, is then, a "pedagogical operator" which, in the wake of Foucauldian pedagogy, is able to influence the educational process, starting from the implicit pedagogy that insinuates itself into a structure, thus making it the daily spokesperson for ideologies.

On Positive Moderation Decisions

A crucial role of moderators is to decide what content is allowed in their community. Though research has advanced its understanding of the content that moderators remove, such as spam and hateful messages, we know little about what moderators approve. This work analyzes moderator-approved content from 49 Reddit communities. It sheds light on the complexity of moderation by giving empirical evidence that the difference between approved and removed content is often subtle. In fact, approved content is more similar to removed content than it is to the remaining content in a community---i.e. content that has never been reviewed by a moderator---along dimensions of topicality, psycholinguistic categories, and toxicity. Building upon this observation, I quantify the implications for NLP systems aimed at supporting moderation decisions, which often conflate moderator-approved content with content that has potentially never been reviewed by a moderator. I show that these systems would remove over half of the content that moderators approved. I conclude with recommendations for building better tools for automated moderation, even when approved content is not available.

Exploring the Type and Impact of Memorable Hate Messages and Identity Salience on Self-Esteem, Relational Outcomes, and Intergroup Biases

ABSTRACT Using a social identity theory framework, the present study offers a typology of memorable hate messages from 170 college-aged students. The memorable hate messages focused on racism, body, gender/sexism, homophobia, religion/anti-religious group, poverty/classism, ability, organizational-affiliation, and politicians/political ideologies. Additionally, the relationships between memorable hate messages, personal characteristics, relational outcomes, identity salience, and intergroup biases are explored. Future research and limitations are also discussed.

THREATS TO JOURNALISM PROFESSION: NEGOTIATIONS FOR EFFICIENCY AND SAFE PRACTICE

Despite a plethora of threats such as funding, violence, ownership etc., challenging Journalism profession; amateurs who engage in the practice, seem to continually pose more threats. Amateurs arguably exacerbate the spread of fake and misleading information, disinformation, misinterpretation of issues, improper delivery of information etc., despite the existence of some environmental threats which tend to be hampering efficiency. The aim of this work is to crusade for efficiency and safe practice of journalism in the face of these threats. This paper further seeks to redefine a journalist; the basic qualities required of practicing journalists; the distinctions between professional journalists and amateurs; other environmental constraints confronting practicing journalists; ways the safety of journalists could be observed, and what roles the relevant bodies and individual journalists are to play in the process. This is in view of the possible impact of media contents on the general public. This paper therefore advocates for efficiency and safe practice of journalism profession devoid of litigations, conflicts, hate messages, ethical or language issues as well as the provision of good work environment for practicing Journalists to boost their productivity. We conclude that existence of amateurs and other environmental constraints should not downplay or discredit the prestige of the profession as a highly disciplined one

Third-Person Effect and Hate Speech Censorship on Facebook

By recruiting 368 US university students, this study adopted an online posttest-only between-subjects experiment to analyze the impact of several types of hate speech on their attitudes toward hate speech censorship. Results showed that students tended to think the influence of hate speech on others was greater than on themselves. Their perception of such messages’ effect on themselves was a significant indicator of supportive attitudes toward hate speech censorship and of their willingness to flag hateful messages.

Project Hatemeter: helping NGOs and Social Science researchers to analyze and prevent anti-Muslim hate speech on social media

Abstract ‘Hatemeter’ is a European project funded under the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme. The project aims to document, analyse and prevent hate speech on social media. It brings together researchers from several disciplines as well as NGOs in each of the three partner countries: Italy, France and Great Britain. Initially the researchers’ efforts focused specifically on anti-Muslim hate speech on Twitter. Following the recommendations of NGOs active on the field, the Hatemeter Platform was developed. It allows the automatic collection of large amounts of data on social media. Thanks to it, a user can: identify potential hate messages in real time, visualize the data collected through different types of graphs, and receive suggestions for counter-narratives writing. Used by Social Science researchers, it has proven to be an effective tool for exploring large amounts of data, identifying trends and then supporting more qualitative analytical approaches. For NGOs, it facilitates social media monitoring, stimulates and accelerates the training of operators who produce counter-narratives to fight hate speech.

Examining the Role of Facebook in the Dissemination of Hate Messages over the Agitation for Biafra in Ikeja, Lagos

In Nigeria, during the agitation for Biafra by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra between 2013 and 2017, the role of Facebook in the dissemination of hate messages by the protagonists and those in opposition to the agitation raised concern about the role of social media as a tool for the spread of hate messages. It is against this background that this research was designed to evaluate the role of Facebook in the spread of hate messages over the agitation for the separate state of Biafra. The study adopted the exploratory design and the mix method approach; both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. For the quantitative data, 400 questionnaires were administered on purposively sampled respondents. The surveys were analyzed using simple percentages and frequency distribution. Also, content analysis of some purposively selected Facebook messages was carried out. In the end, the research found that hate messages were propagated through Facebook using six major channels during the agitation for Biafra between 2013 and 2017. They include; Facebook Personal Profiles, Status Updates and Wall Postings, Facebook Group Chats, Facebook Video Uploads, Individual Comments and Likes, Video Shares and Reposts, and sharing of articles and links to other social media platforms. In line with its findings, the research recommended that Facebook should review its community standards and policies on postings of hate messages through its medium and also strengthen its regulatory mechanisms to ensure that it does not provide a platform anymore for propagators of hate messages in Nigeria and around the world.

Challenging online situations reported by Italian and Portuguese children in 2018

Based on the results of the EU Kids Online survey (2018) already completed in Portugal and Italy, this article analyses two issues related to the growing dissemination of hate messages and fake news: firstly, how Italian and Portuguese children and young people aged 9-17 are coping with negative online content and conduct. Secondly, how they report their informational skills and their relationship with the news content. In comparison to previous surveys conducted in both countries (EU Kids Online 2010, Net Children Go Mobile, 2014), the results reveal an increase in negative online experiences – such as exposure to hate messages, to violent and gory images, or being the victim or perpetrator of cyberbullying. Although the levels of troubling experiences are much higher in Portugal, Italian and Portuguese children present relatively similar patterns of coping. In both countries informational skills relating to surfing or searching for accurate information are reported much less frequently than technological or social digital skills. Gender and age are significant in these two issues. These results underline the need for empowering children with human values and critical literacy, as part of a culture of digital rights and responsibilities.

Theorizing the Journalism Model of Disinformation and Hate Speech Propagation in a Nigerian Democratic Context

Since its political independence in 1960, Nigeria has been a partially united country. Nigerians have always regarded themselves as ‘us' versus ‘them.' This creates a fertile ground for the propagation of hate speech and disinformation. The Fourth Republic in Nigerian democracy, which triumphantly began in 1999, after 16 years of military rule is now in its 21st year. However, since the emergence of the Trumpian fake news era in 2016, the Nigerian democratic atmosphere has been polluted with more devastating hate messages and disinformation which, aided by the ‘supersonic' social media, threaten the nations hard-earned democracy. As the constitutional watchdogs of the society, journalists are tasked to cleanse the democratic atmosphere of the filths of disinformation and hostility. To help the journalists achieve this goal, this article proposes the Journalism Model of Disinformation and Hate Speech Propagation through a critical review of extant literature. Policy recommendations were offered at the end.

Source magnification of cyberhate: affective and cognitive effects of multiple-source hate messages on target group members

ABSTRACT Drawing from the literature on the psychological harm of hate speech and the source magnification framework, we investigated the effects of hate messages from multiple sources on target group members in the context of Twitter. An online experiment conducted with Black Americans living in the United States provided evidence for source magnification of anti-Black messages. In the experiment, participants were exposed to one of three sets of tweets: hate tweets from multiple sources, hate tweets (of identical content) from a single source, and non-hate (control) tweets. The results showed that hate tweets from multiple sources, when compared to the identical hate messages from a single source and to the non-hate tweets, led to greater emotional distress, which, in turn, resulted in greater likelihood of attributing ambiguous social situations to racial prejudice. The findings provide initial evidence for source magnification of hate messages in the context of communication based on social media where simultaneous exposure to asynchronously posted hate messages from multiple sources is likely to happen. The findings also suggest that multiple-source hate messages, when compared to single-source hate messages, are more likely to indirectly result in potential relational harm.

Immigrant Children and the Internet in Spain: Uses, Opportunities, and Risks

This article describes the use made of the Internet by immigrant children living in Spain and the opportunities and risks it involves. Specifically, it deals with children from the Maghreb, Ecuador, and Sub-Saharan Africa, three regions which account for a quarter of Spain’s foreign-born population. A qualitative methodology was used, based on in-depth interviews with 52 children from these countries and educators from their support centres. Immigrant minors usually access the Internet via their smartphones rather than via computers. They have a very high rate of smartphone use and access the Internet over public Wi-Fi networks. However, they make little use of computers and tablets, the devices most closely associated with education and accessing information. Internet usage is fairly similar among immigrant and Spanish teens, although the former receive more support and mediation from their schools and institutions than from their parents. The Internet helps them to communicate with their families in their countries of origin. As one educator puts it, “they have gone from sending photos in letters to speaking to their families every day on Skype”. Some teens, particularly Maghrebis, sometimes suffer from hate messages on social networks.

Hate Content on Kenyan Social Media Space: How the Social Media is Propagating the Spread of Hate Messages in Kenya

Hate Content on Kenyan Social Media Space: How the Social Media is Propagating the Spread of Hate Messages in Kenya

Throwing Our Weight Around: Fat Girls, Protest, and Civil Unrest

Throwing Our Weight Around: Fat Girls, Protest, and Civil Unrest

Automatic hate speech detection in online contents using latent semantic analysis

Internet in general and social media in particular have greatly facilitated the communication, interaction and collaboration among people and different entities. As generally there is no censorship, these media sometimes are used to proliferate discourses that contain hateful messages targeting ethnic origin, religious or sexual groups, which potentially may degenerate to violent acts against individuals of such groups. Therefore, we explore the idea of building of automatic classifier that can be used for detection of hate speech in public Albanian language pages. A hate speech corpus for Albanian language is created, and then based on Support Vector Machine (SVM) approach, an automatic hate speech detection system is proposed. Such system can be used to detect and analyze hate speech in online contents over time and to enhance our knowledge on how they affect opinion creation in society.

Cyber-Extremism: Isis and the Power of Social Media

The current crises in Syria has led to a number of Britons travelling abroad to fight with groups such as Isis. Capitalising on this growth, Isis are now increasingly fighting an online cyber war, with the use of slick videos, online messages of hate and even an app that all aim to radicalise and create a new generation of cyber jihadists. These modern day tools are helping Isis spread their propaganda and ideology to thousands of online sympathisers across the world. Indeed, the group has actively been using social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to recruit new would be members. This is being done through images and the streaming of violent online viral videos filmed and professionally edited that are targeting young and impressionable people. Portraying a glamorised and ‘cool’ image, Isis fighters are beginning to act as the new rock stars of global cyber jihad. The Internet therefore is becoming the virtual playground for extremist views to be reinforced and act as an echo chamber. This study analysed 100 different Facebook pages and 50 Twitter user accounts which generated over 2050 results and helped the author create a typology of seven key behaviour characteristics and motivations. The findings in this study confirmed the author’s original hypothesis, i.e. online hate is being used by groups such as Isis for a variety of reasons such as recruitment and propaganda. Moreover, this material is coordinated and controlled by Isis as a means for publishing and sending out key messages.

A Sociological Investigation into the Influence of the New Media on Political Mobilization: A Study of Nigeria’s 2015 Presidential Election

The new social media have adopted a new form of political mobilization, democracy and government which have become an effective voice for many. As a result of this new social phenomenon which has a large audience communicating with each other. Modern political parties have shifted their ground to the social media platform to create political awareness and using it as a campaign ground, a platform for raising funds for a political party and political debates in order to woo/mobilize electorates. Therefore, this paper examines the impact of the new media on political mobilization using a qualitative content analysis of some news, journals, print and electronic media message. The paper presents a situation analysis and reveals that new social media cannot be down play by politicians when it comes to the area of political mobilization because of its large audience which is about 11.2 million Nigerians. It shows that the new media have enhanced political awareness and interaction. However, politicians/political parties in Nigeria have made use of this new social media to marginalize, intimidate, and discredit political opponents which have led to verbal war/political conflicts. The paper suggests that social media providers should discourage its users from posting provocative and hate messages by blocking such messages. Keywords : social media, political mobilization, presidential election

Media Sosial Dan Kebijakan Kapolri Mengenai ”Hate Speech” (Ujaran Kebencian)

The developments of information technologies affect the life of democracy in Indonesia. Information technology such as social media has caused social change. Social media should be a public space to establish relations and public information centers. The user submits a message to create a closer ties with the community and convey information about social problems. The public get information faster from social media rather than print media, radio and television. But there are some people who spread false news (hoaxes) or even attack the other party through hate speech. Such actions lead to defamation toward certain people then lead public opinion to worsen the socio-political situation, causing a split. The insult to the President by a citizen through a message on social media which continues to the proceedings reminds us to be more concerned about the ethical consideration of communication in public spaces. This issue should be a shared responsibility between the organizers and users of social media in order to maintain a cultured communication behavior and ethical understanding. The policy from the head of Indonesian Police regarding hate speech in social media is the firm stance of the government against violators who deliberately spread messages of hate, violate the values, norms, manners and ethics. The act of spreading the message of hate speech is against the law. Hate speech message ruins the conduciveness of social and political situation. This kind of violation could threaten the mentality of younger generations as users of social media in creating a civilized communication in Indonesia.Keywords: hate speech policy, messages of hate, and social media.

Words that wound, bodies that shield: Corporeal responses to Westboro Baptist Church’s hate speech

In the following essay, I argue that the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Snyder v. Phelps, together with the symbolic and spatial contexts surrounding funeral picketing, enables and constrains particular modes of community response to hate speech. Exploring community responses to Westboro Baptist Church’s hate speech reveals a mode of resistance based in corporeal presence, as counter-demonstrators’ bodies are used to shield mourners from messages of hate. The corporeal nature of these responses reasserts the boundaries between the public and private, and the sacred and profane, in ways that judicial responses do not.

Portrayal of Muslims Following the Murders of Lee Rigby in Woolwich and Mohammed Saleem in Birmingham: A Content Analysis of UK Newspapers

In 2013, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale murdered a British soldier, named Lee Rigby in Woolwich, south-east London. In the aftermath of the incident, evidence showed Muslims had become targets for a rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes.1 Most notably, mosques had been reported to have been burnt down and graffiti with messages of hate scrawled against the walls. In such times, the role of the media is crucial in projecting a balanced approach. This study analysed newspaper coverage three weeks from the Woolwich attacks and examined the language and headlines used to describe Muslims. Over 1022 articles from UK newspapers were reviewed using the Nexis database utilising both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the media narrative regarding Muslims and also make a comparative analysis of how the media reported on the case of Mohammed Saleem who was murdered by the far right extremist, Pavlo Lapshyn. The newspaper articles were analysed by using the computer software NVivo to search for and identify patterns across the articles in order to give an idea of the most frequent ways that Muslims were being portrayed. This paper found that news coverage had generalised about Muslims which was made in an overtly prejudicial way.