Hate in a Tweet: Exploring Internet-Based Islamophobic Discourses

Hate in a Tweet: Exploring Internet-Based Islamophobic Discourses

Blog Article

Islamophobia is the unfounded hostility against Muslims.While anti-Muslim feelings have been explored from many perspectives and in different settings, Internet-based Islamophobia remains under-researched.What are the characteristics of online Islamophobia? What are the Bird Feeder differences (if any) between online and offline anti-Muslim narratives? This article seeks to answer these questions through a qualitative analysis of tweets written in the aftermath of the 2016 British referendum on European Union membership (also known as “Brexit”), which was followed by a surge of Islamophobic episodes.The analysis of the tweets suggests that online Islamophobia largely enhances offline Bar Table anti-Islam discourses, involving narratives that frame Muslims as violent, backward, and unable to adapt to Western values.Islamophobic tweets also have some peculiar characteristics: they foster global networks, contain messages written by so-called “trolls” and “bots,” and contribute to the spreading of “fake news.

” The article suggests that, in order to counteract online Islamophobia, it is important to take into account the networked connections among social media, news media platforms, and offline spaces.