A new study published in the journal Social Network Analysis and Mining explored whether active participation in hate subreddits leads users to adopt extremist beliefs.
The research employed a novel causal analysis approach to quantify the influence of hate subreddits on user behaviour. Using an interrupted time series design, the study compared users active in hate subreddits with those who were not. This comparison was conducted across ten different subreddits in four categories: Alt-Right, Racism, Sexism, and Fat-Shaming. Using a lexicon-based approach, researchers developed a custom hate speech lexicon for each subreddit, categorising words based on their hate connotations.
The study employed sparse additive generative models of text (SAGE) to analyse the distinctiveness of words used in these subreddits compared to general Reddit usage. Further refining their method, the researchers rated the most distinctive words using a 3-rater system to define subreddit-specific hate words. This careful approach ensured a precise and context-sensitive analysis of hate speech.
The study’s findings revealed a consistent and replicable causal link: users becoming active in hate subreddits began using more hate speech, not only within these specific communities but across the wider platform. This suggests that participation in hate subreddits can indeed foster the adoption of extremist beliefs and language.
These findings have significant implications for policy and online community management. They highlight the necessity for social media platforms to adopt more vigilant and proactive measures in monitoring hate speech. This study suggests that simply banning hate subreddits might not be enough: there needs to be a broader strategy to address the spread of extremist ideologies across platforms.
This research sheds light on the transformative effect of online hate communities. By adopting innovative data science methods, it provides a clearer understanding of how hate speech proliferates online and offers a foundation for developing more effective strategies to combat online extremism. The study not only contributes to academic discourse but also has practical implications for policymakers and social media platforms in their ongoing efforts to create safer and more respectful online environments.
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