70% of hate messages published on the websites of digital news media and social networks in Spain attack politicians, women, immigrants and LGTBI+ communities, according to a report by the International University of La Rioja (UNIR).
These are the main conclusions of the Hatemedia project, the first scientific platform that measures the presence of hate speech in digital news media, led by UNIR researchers.
Experts in Linguistics, Computer Engineering and Social Sciences and Communication from various universities have developed a database of terms or a library of hate speech expressions in Spanish and freely accessible, made up of more than 7,000 simple and compound terms.
As a result of this project, a tool called Hate Monitor has been developed, capable of detecting the presence, type and intensity of hate messages on social networks such as X and in the comments sections of the websites of several of the main Spanish news media.
Thus, the platform traces a cartography of the presence, typology and intensity of hate messages generated by users.
Of the total of almost ten million messages analyzed by the platform, more than half are associated with some type of hatred that fosters a climate of media hostility against a certain person or group.
According to the type of hatred, 35% of the messages analyzed promote political hatred, mainly those found on the websites of the media. 35% corresponds to xenophobic, misogynistic hatred or hatred due to sexual orientation, and the remaining 30% to a type of general hatred, without focusing on any specific group (this general typology of hate messages is especially frequent in social networks).
The Hatemedia project has also made it possible to develop a first exploratory approach around the profile of the "haters" in these contexts, who, among other features, usually act in a coordinated manner, in order to repeat ideas aimed at positioning narratives and ideas in public opinion.
Their main targets are political actors, journalists and the media themselves, to disseminate expressions of hatred for racial, ethnic, political, misogynistic or sexual reasons, directed at vulnerable groups, through what these actors represent socially.
The objective of this Hate Monitor is to allow news media, professionals in the sector and public and social agents to detect and implement active strategies to prevent the presence of hate speech in the environment of digital media.
Also provide an early warning index and other indicators that help those interested in following this phenomenon in its early stages, and not in a "forensic" way, once the viralization of this type of message has occurred.