Islamophobia, Racism and Anti-Semitism: How do offline events instigate hate speech online?

With the widespread extremism and polarization that’s proliferating through social media platforms, offline events such as protests and elections, have become a problematic trigger for online hate speech on both mainstream and fringe spaces.

In a recent study on “Offline events and online hate” found that during periods of contentious offline activities, there is a dramatic increase in activity by online hate networks – partly because the events aren’t only discussed within these networks, but also elsewhere online, leading to greater hate speech activity.

The biggest spike in hate speech came after Geroge Floyd’s murder, with racist hate speech increasing by 250 percent in June 2020, and staying at double of what it had been before the protests for the rest of the year.

During this time, researchers noted spikes in other forms of hate speech as well: a 75 percent rise around gender identity and sexual orientation; 60 percent rise around Immigration, ethnicity, identitarian, nationalism; and 40 percent rise in anti-semitism.

Following Iranian general Qassem Suleimani’s assassination in 2020, there was a 90 percent increase in hate speech around religion – most of which was Islamophobic – and a 65 percent rise in anti-semitic hate speech, most of which speculated that Israel was behind the assassination.

The researchers suggest that content moderators should be highly cognizant of online events while putting in augmenting efforts during highly salient events; that a broad and rapid mitigation response is needed to counter the unpredictability of hate speech that ensues from offline events; that activity on fringe platforms should be observed to better safeguard against potential onslaughts incoming into mainstream spaces.