This open access article presents new research findings about how different phases of the pandemic are associated with hate speech against adversaries identified by online conspiracy communities.
This study combined observational methods with exploratory automated text analysis of content from an Italian-themed conspiracy channel on Telegram during the first year of the pandemic. The findings suggests that, when COVID-19 was perceived by the Telegram channel members as a significant health threat (hence the discussion about illness), the hate speech primarily targeted China reflecting a foreign-focused conspiracy theory. When the health threat became less salient in the channel’s conversations, the conspiratorial narratives, the topics of discussion, and the targets of hate speech aligned with a domestic-focused conspiracy theory associated with US-related themes.
Importantly, the relevance of the discussions about the US elections in the Italian Telegram channel (i.e., it was the most discussed topic during the second lockdown, and the top poster of the Telegram channel had both Italian and US flags in their username) suggests that channel members were invested in US politics, and—also based on the research team’s observations—that US-based conspiracy theories (i.e., QAnon) were circulating there. Consistently, we detected a small but significant increase in hate speech against QAnon targets (i.e., Obama, Clinton, pedophiles) alongside domestic targets (i.e., journalists and healthcare workers). More research is needed to understand the contagion effect of the US election and the QAnon narrative at a global level, and how that might have changed—in the short, medium, and long term—the content of the conspiratorial narratives and the adversaries in global contexts. It is important to note that the beginning of the second lockdown took place only 3 days after the US presidential election, which might have been a trigger event for discussions about US politics, too.
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