Predictors of Hate Speech Propagation and on Facebook Among the Youth in Ethiopian Government Universities: Evidence form Haramaya and Dire Dawa Universities

Abstract

Though the issue of hate speech is not a new phenomenonto Ethiopia,its visibility hasincreased due to its propagation specificallythrough social mediainducing political and social instability among the youth and beyond. There had been notheoretical /empirical studies examining the predictors that propagate Hate Speech on Facebook among University youthin Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess the propagation and predictors of hate speech on Facebook among the youth in Haramaya and Dire Dawa Universities.The studyemployed cross-sectional survey design to pool quantitative data from university youth enrolled in Eastern Ethiopia. Data was collected through self-developed structured questionnaires from a random sample of377 university youthwho claimed to be Facebook users. We adopted the Uses and gratifications theory and the ‘social media logic’ to explain the findings. The findings suggested that majority of the sampled youth have used Facebook for over six years and spent more than four hours aday. Paradoxical it may seem, the youth had both positive andnegative attitude towards hate speech when they were exposed to ethnically-induced hate, albeit majority of them spread hate on purpose. The outcome of the multiple linear regression model revealed that attitude was the strongest predictor of hate speech followed respectively by exposure, purpose, level of educationand age. Concerned stakeholders need to collaborate in media literacy education to tackle hate speech propagation among university youth