New research from Keele University looking at how online hate speech can be tackled has been launched in Parliament, with researchers urging the Government and tech companies to introduce stricter measures to combat such content on social media. 

Led by Professor Elizabeth Poole, along with co-investigator Professor Ed de Quincey, the study looked at the mechanisms on social media which both allow hate speech to spread, but also enable counter-narratives to gain traction to combat it. 

The researchers, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, looked specifically at islamophobia for this study, examining over three million tweets centred around three “trigger” events – Brexit; the Christchurch terror attacks; and the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

They wanted to investigate not only patterns in hate speech and Islamophobia online following these events, and whether it became more prominent or frequent, but also how effective moderation was at removing or containing Islamophobic content. 

They also sought to investigate whether social media could prove an equally effective tool for online activists seeking to counter or combat hateful content. 

Hosted by Naz Shah MP, who described her own experiences of being a target on social media, the research team presented their findings in Parliament recently. They argued that although social media companies do have the tools to moderate accounts on their platforms and delete hate speech when it is posted, the existing moderation procedures are not effective enough to eradicate it, with the researchers saying automated approaches alone are “not an adequate solution”. 

They also found that these events hosted a so-called “long tail of racism”, where right-wing narratives and harmful tropes about Muslims became more prevalent after the initial supportive narrative faded away further from the event. 

The researchers argue racist narratives and more positive counternarratives are intrinsically linked and help to sustain one another on these platforms, as activists pushing counternarratives felt it was important to not leave an empty space, to be “filled with hate”, following these trigger events. 

In their recommendations to tech companies and government, the researchers call for more investment in moderation procedures to monitor and remove hate speech, as well as urging them to work with external experts and civil groups on their policies and practices. 

Lead author Professor Elizabeth Poole said: “The event allowed different CSOs and academics to come together to highlight the ongoing problem of hate speech on social media and identify potential solutions to what is a complex issue.  

“The research shows both the importance of effective moderation and the role of CSOs in successfully countering hate speech. It therefore provided an opportunity to lobby MPs on various aspects of the Online Safety Act at a time when research on social media is increasingly difficult due to restricted access to these platforms. 

“We would like to thank the Community Policy Forum for organising this event, and for their policy report that makes recommendations based on our research.”

The full report is available to view on the Keele University website.