IM Cultural Institute

Tag: Hate Speech

  • Hate Speech on Social Media: A Systemic Narrative Review of Political Science Contributions

    Hate Speech on Social Media: A Systemic Narrative Review of Political Science Contributions

    In light of evidence showing that many young people are frequently exposed to hateful content on social media, in this systematic narrative review the analysis of political implications of online hate speech is proposed. It addresses three key questions: the main drivers of hate speech on social media, its political consequences, and the strategies proposed in political science to counter these dynamics.

    Based on an analysis of 79 articles from political science and international relations, the author finds that online hate is linked to factors such as social media platform policies, regulatory frameworks, perceived threats to in-group identity, far-right and populist rhetoric, politically significant events like elections, traditional media narratives, post-truth dynamics, and historical animosities.

    The literature also indicates that hate speech contributes to the normalization of discriminatory behavior, silences opposing voices, and mobilizes organized hate.

    To address these effects, it is found that political science research emphasizes the role of online deterrence mechanisms, counter-speech, allyship, and digital literacy as key strategies for combating hate in the social media era.

    Learn more about this review here: https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14100610

    Reference

    Kentmen-Cin, C. (2025). Hate Speech on Social Media: A Systemic Narrative Review of Political Science Contributions. Social Sciences, 14(10), 610

  • The Perpetration of On- and Offline Hate Speech among Secondary School Students

    The Perpetration of On- and Offline Hate Speech among Secondary School Students

    This study analyzes the relationship between witnessing and perpetrating hate speech, both online and offline.

    The research was empirically based on data from a purpose-designed questionnaire completed by 571 secondary school students in Almería, Spain, and employs statistical analyses, including binary logistic regression and chi-square tests, to examine these relationships.

    Research results indicate a clear escalation of violence and a transfer between online and in-person hate speech. The influence of close social environments is evident, such as violence within schools. Students who experience hate speech in either environment are significantly more likely to go on to perpetrate hate speech themselves.

    The authors conclude that both online and offline hate speech perpetration are strongly associated with prior exposure to hate speech, particularly having witnessed or suffered in-person hate speech, having encountered hate speech online, and most notably, having been victimized by hate speech online.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2025.1632091

    Reference

    Cáceres, J. M. B., Martínez, P. R., Espinosa, J. J. S., & Joya, L. M. (2025). The perpetration of on- and offline hate speech among secondary school students. Frontiers in Human Dynamics, 7

  • Exploring Hate Speech Dynamics: The Emotional, Linguistic, and Thematic Impact on Social Media Users

    Exploring Hate Speech Dynamics: The Emotional, Linguistic, and Thematic Impact on Social Media Users

    In this study, online hate speech as a growing concern was examined, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when anti-Asian sentiment increased across social media platforms.

    While the prevalence of hateful content has been widely documented, the causal mechanisms underlying emotional and behavioral changes among users who post such content remain insufficiently explored.

    The study addresses this gap by investigating the causal relationship between engaging in hateful content and subsequent changes in linguistic and emotional expression on social media.

    Using a dataset of 6,002 Twitter/X users, the authors apply causal inference methods, including propensity score matching, alongside advanced topic modeling techniques. This approach allows for a comparison between users who post hateful content and a matched group of non-hateful users.

    Findings show that users who engage in hateful posting display significantly higher levels of anger, anxiety, and negative emotions, as well as increased use of third-person pronouns. Moral outrage and profanity peak during hateful posts and decline over time, though they remain higher than in non-hateful content.

    The analysis also reveals that hateful posts are more interconnected, address a wider range of topics, and are more similar to one another, indicating lower cohesion within individual posts but greater cohesion across posts overall.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2025.104079

    Reference

    Ghenai, A., Noorian, Z., Moradisani, H., Abadeh, P., Erentzen, C., & Zarrinkalam, F. (2025). Exploring hate speech dynamics: The emotional, linguistic, and thematic impact on social media users. Information Processing & Management, 62(3), 104079

  • Teacher Education, Diversity, and the Prevention of Hate Speech: Ethical and Political Foundations for Inclusive Citizenship

    Teacher Education, Diversity, and the Prevention of Hate Speech: Ethical and Political Foundations for Inclusive Citizenship

    This study examines hate speech in educational contexts, focusing on initial teacher training, in the context of Chile.

    Considering how hate speech is conceptualized as a form of expression that promotes violence and exclusion – and the amplifying role of social media -, drawing on the theories of Levinas, Arendt, and Žižek, the study emphasizes the importance of citizenship education in fostering inclusive and democratic educational environments.

    Using a quantitative, descriptive, and correlational design, the research is based on a survey of history pedagogy students at Chilean universities.

    The analysis shows that 51% of participants believe that teacher training programs should explicitly address hate speech, and 70% expect institutional support from the Ministry of Education. Additionally, a moderate positive correlation is identified between social media use and the spread of hate speech.

    Although students acknowledge hate speech as a significant issue, the findings also reveal ongoing resistance to incorporating hate speech and diversity-related content into teacher education curricula.

    A need for public policies is emphasized, which will integrate diversity, human rights, and critical digital literacy into teacher training in order to prevent discrimination and promote ethical and inclusive educational practices.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15050139

    Reference

    Marolla-Gajardo, J., & Riquelme Plaza, I. (2025). Teacher Education, Diversity, and the Prevention of Hate Speech: Ethical and Political Foundations for Inclusive Citizenship. Societies, 15(5)

  • Improving Public Literacy in Hate Speech Cases on Social Media as an Effort to Mitigate Legal and Social Impacts

    Improving Public Literacy in Hate Speech Cases on Social Media as an Effort to Mitigate Legal and Social Impacts

    Following on the evidence that hate speech and the threats posed by it and its recurrence has not received enough attention, the authors have conducted a study of hate speech in social media, focusing in particular on insults that may constitute criminal speech and on the mindset of those who produce such content.

    Using a qualitative approach, the study analyzes a defamation case based on the final decision published on the Supreme Court website. Pragmatic analysis is applied to interpret the intentions underlying the offender’s speech.

    The findings identify several forms of insults, including accusations, curses, ridicule, and combinations of accusations and curses. These forms involve violations of pragmatic maxims, namely the maxims of quality, wisdom, and agreement.

    From a legal perspective, such speech can be prosecuted if it is done intentionally, contains accusations, is disseminated to the public, contains swear words, and defames the victim.

    Concluding results point to the need for greater awareness among social media users of the risks and consequences of insulting speech, emphasizing the importance of literacy around insult and defamation cases.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1504.10

    Reference

    Arianto, A. K., Santosa, R., & Yustanto, H. (2025). Improving Public Literacy in Hate Speech Cases on Social Media as an Effort to Mitigate Legal and Social Impacts. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 15(4), 1120–1129

  • Empowerment Is Key? How Perceived Political and Critical Digital Media Literacy Explain Direct and Indirect Bystander Intervention in Online Hate Speech

    Empowerment Is Key? How Perceived Political and Critical Digital Media Literacy Explain Direct and Indirect Bystander Intervention in Online Hate Speech

    With hate speech being so widespread in digital media and capable of harming people and fueling recurring hostile discourse, the study of the factors that shape bystander intervention in response to online hate speech is crucial.

    Specifically, there is still a need to understand how perceived political and digital media literacy are related to the frequency of various forms of online bystander intervention, such as counter-speech or reporting. This is what this study seeks to do.

    Based on a national online survey of German citizens (N = 2,691), the analysis focuses on individuals with prior experience in responding to online incivilities (n = 672). The study examines how perceived levels of political and digital media literacy are associated with private and public, direct and indirect forms of intervention, such as counter-speech or reporting harmful content.

    Results indicate that a sense of empowerment in dealing with digital media content is associated with more frequent direct and public interventions, including the use of counter-speech against online hate.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251325598

    Reference

    Obermaier, M., Schmid, U. K., & Rieger, D. (2025). Empowerment Is Key? How Perceived Political and Critical Digital Media Literacy Explain Direct and Indirect Bystander Intervention in Online Hate Speech. Social Media and Society, 11(1)

  • AI to Counteract Hate Speech

    AI to Counteract Hate Speech

    Proposal: Using AI Tools to Counteract Hate Speech and Hate Crimes

    Implementation: 2025 to 2027

    Call: CERV-2024-CHAR-LITI – Promote civil society organisations’ awareness of, capacity building and implementation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

    Topic: CERV-2024-CHAR-LITI-SPEECH

    Type of Action: CERV-PJG – CERV Project Grants

    Proposed Budget: 610 244,50€

    Keywords: hate speech, disinformation, counteracting, protecting european values

    Objective: Given the growing scale of hate speech in public spaces, especially online, this project aims to comprehensively examine the phenomenon of hate speech in various socio-cultural contexts and develop a tool using generative artificial intelligence to identify and report hate speech in each language. The project focuses on the analysis of hate speech, development of innovative technological solutions, as well as social education in the field of recognizing and counteracting hate speech. The aim of the project is to strengthen the protection of EU values by providing an effective tool supporting the fight against hate speech, which will enable citizens to report cases of hate to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

    Partners:

    • Instytut Dyskursu I Dialogu
    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Grupa Tipmedia Spolka Z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnoscia
    • Fondatsiya Savremenna Plevenska Mediya
    • Fundación Centro De Estudos Eurorrexiónais Galicia Norte De Portugal
    • Asociacion Consortium Local-Global Coglobal
    • Action For The Civil Society
    • Interaktion – Verein Für Ein Interkulturelles Zusammenleben
  • Associations Between Teachers’ Beliefs and their Perception of Hate Speech in School: A Study in Germany and Switzerland

    Associations Between Teachers’ Beliefs and their Perception of Hate Speech in School: A Study in Germany and Switzerland

    Teachers’ perceptions of hate speech in schools is an issue that should be increasingly relevant, given the prevalence of hate speech among adolescents and the need for educational responses. While teachers are expected to address hate speech as part of their professional role, little is known about the beliefs that shape their early perceptions and intervention decisions, which can be crucial in the quality of their approach.

    For this reason, this study investigates the associations between teachers’ social dominance orientation, pluralist attitudes, and their perception of hate speech in school.

    Empirical data was collected through a self-report survey of 471 secondary school teachers from Germany and Switzerland, and matched with data from 3,560 students in grades 7 to 9 to control for students’ perceptions of hate speech. Fixed-effects multilevel regression analyses were conducted, accounting for demographic variables and student perceptions.

    Study results show that teachers perceive offline hate speech as more frequent than online hate speech. Contrary to expectations, higher social dominance orientation was positively associated with both offline and online hate speech perception. As hypothesized, teachers’ pluralist attitudes were also positively linked to their perception of hate speech in both contexts.

    Nonetheless, the study concludes by emphasizing the need for further research on how teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions of hate speech relate to other dimensions of professional competence in educational settings.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1432013

    Reference

    Kansok-Dusche, J., Wettstein, A., Fischer, S. M., Wachs, S., & Bilz, L. (2024). Associations between teachers’ beliefs and their perception of hate speech in school: A study in Germany and Switzerland. Frontiers in Education, 9

  • From Hate Speech to HateLess. The Effectiveness of a Prevention Program on Adolescents’ Online Hate Speech Involvement

    From Hate Speech to HateLess. The Effectiveness of a Prevention Program on Adolescents’ Online Hate Speech Involvement

    In this study, the impact of online hate speech on adolescents was examined, and the effectiveness of HateLess – Together Against Hatred, a school-based intervention designed to reduce hate speech engagement and promote counter-speech.

    Using a quasi-experimental design, the research involved 820 adolescents aged 12 to 16 from 11 German schools, divided into an intervention group that participated in a one-week anti-hate speech program and a control group. Multilevel mediation analyses were used to assess the program’s effects.

    It was shown that participation in the program significantly reduced online hate speech perpetration and victimization, while increasing countering behaviors. These effects were partly mediated by increases in empathy, which were associated with lower perpetration and higher counter-speech, and by enhanced self-efficacy, which was linked to reduced victimization and greater countering of hate speech.

    Overall, HateLess appears to be a promising approach for reducing online hate speech and fostering more respectful online interactions among adolescents.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108250

    Reference

    Wachs, S., Wright, M. F., & Gámez-Guadix, M. (2024). From hate speech to HateLess. The effectiveness of a prevention program on adolescents’ online hate speech involvement. Computers in Human Behavior, 157

  • News Literacy and Online News Between Egyptian and Spanish Youth: Fake News, Hate Speech and Trust in the Media

    News Literacy and Online News Between Egyptian and Spanish Youth: Fake News, Hate Speech and Trust in the Media

    An exploratory study reflects on whether citizens can be considered “responsible” in their online news behavior when exposed to harmful content, fake news, and hate speech.

    It aims to position news literacy as a mediating factor in fostering civic responsibility by investigating its role in improving young people’s online news experiences and preparing them to deal with harmful content.

    News literacy is conceptualized as a multi-structural construct composed of motivation, knowledge, and skills. Using a mixed-methods approach, focus group discussions and survey data were combined to examine youths’ online news experiences and assess their levels of news literacy. Youth samples from Egypt and Spain were the empirical basis of the research, allowing for a comparative analysis.

    Results reveal a positive correlation between news literacy and the ability to identify fake news and hate speech, higher engagement with news, greater concern for content accuracy before sharing, and stronger motivation to seek news.

    At the same time, respondents from both countries expressed negative perceptions of professional news media, citing concerns that news organizations are not adequately fulfilling their role as it should be.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.3916/C74-2023-06

    Reference

    Samy-Tayie, S., Tejedor, S., & Pulido, C. (2023). News literacy and online news between Egyptian and Spanish youth: Fake news, hate speech and trust in the media. Comunicar, 30(74), 69–81

  • Can We Counteract Hate? Effects of Online Hate Speech and Counter Speech on the Perception of Social Groups

    Can We Counteract Hate? Effects of Online Hate Speech and Counter Speech on the Perception of Social Groups

    Considering the fact that hate speech can increase stereotyped thinking and social distancing in a society, while – according to the authors of this study – there is still a lack of variety in the social groups under study and research into possible solutions to the problem, the study of the effects of hate speech is proposed, specifically against Chinese people and transgender people, while investigating if counter speech can offset the detrimental effects of hate speech.

    For this purpose, a pre-registered online experiment was carried out, with a 2 × 3 between-subject design, varying the attacked group (Chinese people/transgender people) and the type of comments (neutral/hate speech/hate speech and counter speech) for an Austrian sample (n = 1285).

    Findings in this case actually seemed to reveal no effect of hate speech on the dependent variables, indicating that citizens might not be as vulnerable to hate speech, but further study is necessary.

    However, counter speech has a polarizing effect: attitudinal gaps and differences for social distancing increase between left-wing and right-wing participants if hate speech is countered.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502231201091

    Reference

    Schäfer, S., Rebasso, I., Boyer, M. M., & Planitzer, A. M. (2024). Can We Counteract Hate? Effects of Online Hate Speech and Counter Speech on the Perception of Social Groups. Communication Research, 51(5), 553–579

  • Understanding and Appraising ‘Hate Speech’

    Understanding and Appraising ‘Hate Speech’

    According to the author of this study, although hate speech has become a matter of international concern, permeating institutional and lay discussions alike, what it means to refer to a linguistic act as ‘hate speech’ remains unclear.

    In light of such evidence, focusing on lay understandings of hate speech, the study explores the relationship between hate speech and hate, the distinction between hate speech and offensive speech, considering also how hate speech is defined in the UK Public Order Act 1986.

    Using a corpus-based discourse analysis, 255 hate speech–related news articles were analyzed, alongside data from the General English Web 2020 corpus.

    Hate speech is found to be a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, because hate is a central component, but it is not sufficient on its own to classify an act as hate speech, and elements such as threats, denigration of the targets based on a protected characteristic (age, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability), the potential to cause harm and the intent to stir up hatred, are also essential in distinguishing hate speech and offense.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00082.vil

    Reference

    Vilar-Lluch, S. (2023). Understanding and appraising ‘hate speech.’ Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict, 11(2), 279–306

  • Hate Speech in the Internet Context: Unpacking the Roles of Internet Penetration, Online Legal Regulation, and Online Opinion Polarization from a Transnational Perspective

    Hate Speech in the Internet Context: Unpacking the Roles of Internet Penetration, Online Legal Regulation, and Online Opinion Polarization from a Transnational Perspective

    In this study, the dynamics of online hate speech are examined through the analysis of a panel dataset covering 167 countries over 19 years, drawn from the V-Dem project.

    The relationships between key Internet context indicators and online hate speech is explored, in order to better understand how the phenomenon can be addressed at a global scale.

    Findings show that what the authors call “Internet penetration” is positively associated with online hate speech, supporting the idea that the technological affordances of the Internet can facilitate the expression of hateful content. Online legal regulation is negatively related to online hate speech, not significantly moderating the relationship between Internet penetration and hate speech, highlighting tensions in the effectiveness of legal approaches. On another hand, online opinion polarization is positively associated with online hate speech and significantly strengthens the relationship between Internet penetration and hate speech, suggesting that polarized opinion environments intensify hate speech and intergroup conflict.

    The study concludes by offering a discussion of the theoretical contributions of these findings and their implications for policy aimed at reducing online hate speech worldwide.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1177/02666669221148487

    Reference

    Liu, Z., Luo, C., & Lu, J. (2024). Hate speech in the Internet context: Unpacking the roles of Internet penetration, online legal regulation, and online opinion polarization from a transnational perspective. Information Development, 40(4), 533–549

  • Towards a Definition of Hate Speech—With a Focus on Online Contexts

    Towards a Definition of Hate Speech—With a Focus on Online Contexts

    This review addresses the ongoing challenges faced by legislators and digital platforms in defining and regulating hate speech online.

    Despite increased attention to the issue, questions surrounding the definition of hate speech remain unresolved, raising concerns about both theoretical clarity and practical applicability. For this reason, the paper focuses on three central questions: the main challenges involved in defining hate speech, the possible alternatives to existing definitions, and the relationship between the scope of a definition and its operationalization in online contexts.

    By tracing regulatory and definitional efforts across legal, paralegal, and technology platform settings, the review identifies four main modes of defining hate speech: teleological, pure consequentialist, formal, and consensus or relativist approaches.

    The authors highlight that, although hate speech has long been the focus of legal and ethical debate, both its theoretical definition and its regulation remain elusive. Existing definitions are often vague or internally inconsistent, with no universally accepted framework emerging from legal theory, jurisprudence, or academic research. This lack of consensus is further complicated by new ethical and communicative challenges posed by digital and social media environments.

    Learn more about this review here: https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599221124309

    Reference

    Hietanen, M., & Eddebo, J. (2022). Towards a Definition of Hate Speech—With a Focus on Online Contexts. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 47(4), 440-458

  • Youths as Targets: Factors of Online Hate Speech Victimization among Adolescents and Young Adults

    Youths as Targets: Factors of Online Hate Speech Victimization among Adolescents and Young Adults

    In this study, the victimization of adolescents and young adults through online hate speech was investigated, a phenomenon that can cause severe psychological harm during critical developmental stages.

    Drawing on criminology’s routine activity theory, the research investigates factors that help explain why young people become targets of online hate speech.It is empirically based on a national, quota-based quantitative online survey representative of adolescent and young adult internet users (N = 1,180).

    Data analysis identifies six latent profiles of young targets, characterized by overall high or low levels of online hate speech victimization, as well as victimization related to gender, migration background, religion, and political engagement on behalf of the queer community.

    Concluding results show that relative subjective deprivation, political participation, and lower levels of digital media literacy are positively associated with overall victimization through online hate speech. At the same time, members of specific social groups and politically engaged youths are more likely to be targeted.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmac012

    Reference

    Obermaier, M., & Schmuck, D. (2022). Youths as targets: Factors of online hate speech victimization among adolescents and young adults. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 27(4)

  • A Systematic Review on Hate Speech among Children and Adolescents: Definitions, Prevalence, and Overlap with Related Phenomena

    A Systematic Review on Hate Speech among Children and Adolescents: Definitions, Prevalence, and Overlap with Related Phenomena

    This systematic review examined the current state of research on the involvement of young people in hate speech, an area the authors affirm that remains relatively underexplored.

    Two main issues make its focus: the prevalence of hate speech among children and adolescents, including the definitions used to assess prevalence, and the theoretical and empirical overlap between hate speech and related concepts.

    Guided by the Cochrane approach, the review includes studies reporting real-life experiences of hate speech and providing empirical prevalence data for samples aged 5 to 21 years. An electronic search across ERIC, SocInfo, PsycInfo, and Psyndex identified 1,850 publications, of which 18 publications based on 10 studies met the inclusion criteria. Most studies relied on quantitative methods and focused on adolescent samples, with no studies examining younger children.

    Results show that exposure to hate speech was more frequent than victimization or perpetration, empirical evidence of overlap between hate speech and bullying was also identified, while definitions and assessment instruments varied considerably across studies.

    The authors conclude by outlining various implications for practice, policy, and future research, and proposing the following definition of hate speech:

    “Hate speech is a derogatory expression (e.g., words, posts, text messages, images, videos) about people (directly or vicariously) on the basis of assigned group characteristics (e.g., ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion). Hate speech is based on an intention to harm and it has the potential to cause harm on multiple different levels (e.g., individual, communal, societal).”

    Learn more about this review here: https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380221108070

    Reference

    Kansok-Dusche, J., Ballaschk, C., Krause, N., Zeißig, A., Seemann-Herz, L., Wachs, S., & Bilz, L. (2022). A Systematic Review on Hate Speech among Children and Adolescents: Definitions, Prevalence, and Overlap with Related Phenomena. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 24(4), 2598-2615

  • Hate Speech Epidemic. The Dynamic Effects of Derogatory Language on Intergroup Relations and Political Radicalization

    Hate Speech Epidemic. The Dynamic Effects of Derogatory Language on Intergroup Relations and Political Radicalization

    In this article, the way how exposure to derogatory language targeting immigrants and minority groups contributes to political radicalization and deteriorates intergroup relations is discussed.

    The psychological processes underlying both the effects of hate speech and its proliferation in contemporary societies are considered, as well as the factors that may constrain its growth.

    The authors argue that frequent exposure to hate speech has profound emotional, behavioral, and normative consequences. Empathy is gradually replaced by intergroup contempt, which both motivates and results from derogatory language. As hate speech becomes more prevalent, it creates a descriptive norm that legitimizes outgroup derogation, leading to the erosion of existing antidiscriminatory norms. In addition, repeated exposure produces desensitization, reducing individuals’ ability to recognize the offensive nature of such language.

    Drawing on empirical evidence from social psychology and the psychology of emotion and aggression, a model is proposed to explain these processes and explores its dynamics using an agent-based modeling approach. It is shown that mechanisms that could limit the spread of hate speech, such as empathy and social norms, are themselves weakened by continued exposure.

    Concluding remarks point out that these psychological dynamics contribute to greater societal acceptance of derogatory language and increased hostility toward immigrants and religious, ethnic, and sexual minorities.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12670

    Reference

    Bilewicz, M. and Soral, W. (2020), Hate Speech Epidemic. The Dynamic Effects of Derogatory Language on Intergroup Relations and Political Radicalization. Political Psychology, 41: 3-33

  • Prevalence and Psychological Effects of Hateful Speech in Online College Communities

    Prevalence and Psychological Effects of Hateful Speech in Online College Communities

    This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and impact of hateful speech within college communities, where such speech can have particularly harmful psychological and social consequences.

    Regulating hateful speech on college campuses raises complex socio-political challenges, making it essential to assess both how widespread the phenomenon is and how it affects students’ psychological well-being.

    Focusing on the online dimension of campus life, a dataset of approximately six million Reddit comments shared across 174 college-related communities was analyzed.

    To measure the prevalence of hateful speech, the authors introduce the College Hate Index (CHX), which is used to examine the distribution of hateful speech across categories such as behavior, class, disability, ethnicity, gender, physical appearance, race, religion, and sexual orientation. A causal inference framework is then applied to investigate the psychological effects of exposure to hateful speech, particularly through expressions of online stress.

    The analysis also explored differences in psychological endurance by examining language use, discriminatory keywords, and personality traits.

    Findings showed that hateful speech is prevalent in online college communities, with around 25% of college subreddits exhibiting higher levels of hateful speech than non-college subreddits. Exposure to hateful content was associated with increased stress expression, although individuals were not affected equally. Students with lower psychological endurance appear more vulnerable to emotional outbursts and exhibit higher levels of neuroticism compared to those with greater resilience.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1145/3292522.3326032

    Reference

    Saha, K., Chandrasekharan, E., & De Choudhury, M. (2019). Prevalence and Psychological Effects of Hateful Speech in Online College Communities. Proceedings of the … ACM Web Science Conference. ACM Web Science Conference, 2019, 255–264