How Hate Spreads like a Wildfire

Meghan Titterington
mt227615@ohio.edu

Toxic Hate in America 

It's no secret that hate crimes and hate speech are rising concerns in America. However, I find most media outlets' inability to handle such an increase in disinformation even more alarming because their social forums tend to be the hub for this widespread animosity. Extremists have the power to spread their message with a velocity no one has ever seen, where clicking 'post' can result in large scale readership and eventually hit mainstream media coverage.

The Genie is Out of the Bottle 

Now you might be thinking, "Well, what measures are social media platforms taking to censor and remove such content?" The answer to this is tricky because each news station, social media outlet or even person in America most likely has a slightly different answer if they were asked to define hate speech. Refining what constitutes hate speech in social media content is extremely difficult, which is why action needs to be taken across all channels to reach a conclusion on how to identify such heinous propaganda. An article published by The New York Times discussed how hate 'thrives' on social media, calling special attention to the hashtag #jewsdid911 and its popularity following the devastating shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue. When the word "Jews" was searched on Instagram, 11,696 posts popped up with that hashtag. This is just one example of how hate spreads like wildfire.

A man stops at each Star of David with the names of the 11 people killed during a mass shooting at The Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Courtesy of time.com  

In reality, it's a global epidemic. Social media outlets grew tremendously in the last several years, but that also meant that their user base and influence reached record highs. These companies never understood the ramifications of their influence that provokes "free speech," whether it be positive or negative, and now the genie is out of the bottle. Instagram said they were actively reviewing any hashtags or content related to the Pittsburgh shooting and were taking down content that violated their policy. But is this response adequate enough to diminish the extremity of this toxic outbreak? If social media has this much influence, they need policies in place to remove hateful speech before it escalates to further detriment. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter reported that they were investing in artificial intelligence designed to locate and extract any unwanted content on their forums. Facebook and YouTube have hired thousands of employees to handle security, taking note that safety is prioritized over their notorious principle of free expression.

Moving Forward 

Completely eliminating hate speech and hate crime from our world is a far fetched ideology, but it's definitely something to strive for. I think one of the biggest problems with how hate speech/ crime escalates is in the way journalists write about it and how news stations prioritize the coverage. An article posted in Poynter discusses the challenges journalists faced when they reported on the racial violence that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia during a white nationalist rally. The article articulates the proper ways journalists should handle stories that deal with race and violence. First, be precise with your language and avoid any subjective adjectives or labels that may need clarification. Second, be specific when discussing politics and the names of political groups because sometimes journalists' descriptions are too broad. Third, make sure any video or image you include has context and accurately reflects the events that took place. Finally, avoid any use of shorthand or codes in your writing because many of your readers may not know what you know.