Exploring Ethnic Hate Speech through the Prism of Social Media in Ethiopia

Abstract

The present case study is aimed at offering a snapshot analysis of the nature of
ethnic hate speech and the strategies used in disseminating such speech via Facebook,
and showing how Facebook followers are affected by such hate messages. In this study,
four Facebook users known by the researchers to have high number of followers and
known to post politics-related messages were selected using extreme case sampling. In
the selection of potential ethnic hate messages, two social psychologists examined the
messages and those agreed upon by both to have ethnic hate characteristics were
selected for final analysis. Accordingly, eighty messages (written messages and
comments given) and fifteen pictures with hate speech contents targeted towards specific
ethnic groups were analyzed using media content analysis and discourse analysis. The
findings indicated six categories of ethnic hate speech and four strategies used to frame
them. The analysis also revealed that a substantial number of Facebook followers
reacted to hate speeches in destructive, irrational, and polarizing manners.This paper
finally proposes two major interconnected alternative approaches deemed necessary to
counteract the cascading negative impacts of ethnic hate speeches