This book explores the nature of hate speech on social media. Readers will find chapters written by 21 authors from 18 universities or research centers. It includes researchers from 11 countries, prioritizing a diversity of approaches from the Global North and Global South – Brazil, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Germany, Nigeria, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and the USA. The analyses herein involve the realities in an even larger number of countries, given the transnational approach of some of these studies. One can find a preview of the chapters at the beginning of the book, with abstracts organized in a separate section. It is evident that the authors study the impact of recent events on hate speech – the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia- Ukraine war, the refugee crisis – and recurrent attacks on minority groups such as women, immigrants, or the LGBTQ+ community. The authors employ classic and digital research methods, using quantitative and qualitative data gathered from platforms like Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. As a result, readers will encounter taxonomic proposals, new methodological approaches, theoretical frameworks, and mapping of behavioral patterns.

A state-of-the-art account of what we know and do not know about the effects of digital technology on democracy.

The opportunities afforded by the Internet greatly overshadow the challenges. While not forgetting this, we can nevertheless still address some of the problems that arise. Hate speech online is one such problem. But what exactly is hate speech online, and how can we deal with it effectively? As with freedom of expression, on- or offline, UNESCO defends the position that the free flow of information should always be the norm. Counter-speech is generally preferable to suppression of speech. And any response that limits speech needs to be very carefully weighed to ensure that this remains wholly exceptional, and that legitimate robust debate is not curtailed.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license and reports on research carried out as part of the European Union co-funded C.O.N.T.A.C.T. project which targeted hate speech and hate crime across a number of EU member states. It showcases the bearing that discourse analytic research can have on our understanding of this phenomenon that is a growing global cause for concern. Although ‘hate speech’ is often incorporated in legal and policy documents, there is no universally accepted definition, which in itself warrants research into how hatred is both expressed and perceived. The research project synthesises discourse analytic and corpus linguistics techniques, and presents its key findings here. The focus is especially on online comments posted in reaction to news items that could trigger discrimination, as well as on the folk perception of online hate speech as revealed through semi-structured interviews with young individuals across the various partner countries.

Research shows that hate speech is extremely common on social media and that it can lead to real-world violence and crime. Social Media Hate Speech presents a realistic picture of what is happening on social media, who's most affected, and what is being done to address these troubling issues.

-- The editors of this volume are mid- to senior-level scholars who each have significant publications on digital hate and extreme speech. The collection arises out of a conference which received EU funding to study the rise and spread of extreme speech in the digital age. -- Any good work on digital extreme speech would be useful in an era of right-wing nationalism, rampant racism, and online calls for violence. What makes this collection particularly significant, though, is its focus on expanding the conversation to encompass a more global outlook. In doing so, it encourages readers to have a fuller and more nuanced understanding of the ways in which the Internet operates across the world. -- Methodologically and theoretically, it combines the lens of media anthropology and communication studies. This makes it a unique contribution to anthropology and communication studies, advancing as well growing scholarly interests in digital politics and online communication among sociologists, political scientists, international studies and development studies experts. -- The audience for the work is upper level undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars working in global communications, new media studies, international studies, anthropology and sociology as it relates to media and the Internet, and political science. The work would also appeal to media activists, NGOs engaged in hate speech interventions and peacebuilding, and governmental and media organizations.