Abstract
Explicit, undeniable expressions of hate, such as hate crimes, are surging in the United States and Europe. Many scholars linked such crimes to hateful speech and extremist ideas, especially online. Therefore, one would expect hate speech and hate crimes to have a similar upward trajectory over the past few years. This chapter explores such a hypothesis by tracking how online hate speech has changed across time. Using aggregate data from the United States and the United Kingdom from 2013 and 2018, this analysis compares trends in levels of exposure and type of hate expressed. After discussing what cyberhate is and highlighting why it is important to track, how the level of exposure and type of cyberhate in each country changed between 2013 and 2018 is explored. Understanding how exposure to and expressions of hate have changed over time within countries helps researchers understand patterns of social change and provides information on emerging concerns related to hateful online rhetoric, such as the divisive narratives that will forestall positive social change.
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Acknowledgments
This project was supported by Award No. 2014-ZA-BX-0014, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.
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Hawdon, J., Reichelmann, A.V., Costello, M. (2022). Riding the Cyberwaves. In: Baikady, R., Sajid, S., Nadesan, V., Przeperski, J., Islam, M.R., Gao, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87624-1_296-1
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