Analysis of hate speech involving Islamophobia on Twitter and its social repercussion in the case of the campaign “Remove the labels from the veil”

Abstract

In the new media ecosystem, social networks become a critical space for channelling hate-filled political beliefs, ideologies and actions. Given the scarcity of empirical studies related to Islamophobic discourse on social networks in Spain, this study offers a rigorous quantitative analysis of social conversation on Twitter generated as a result of the “Remove the labels from the veil” campaign launched in 2019 by Al Fanar Foundation for Arab Knowledge, with the support of Twitter, in order to dismantle stereotypical views of Muslim women. A quantitative analysis of the impact generated by the campaign's main tweet and the publishing of two subsequent information threads was carried out. The sample (N = 1,545) was made up of each comment registered in the initial tweet of the campaign (N = 747) and in the two subsequent threads (N = 603 and N = 195). The aim was to establish who participated in the conversation, and the main topics, tone and actions that defined it. Subsequently, a critical analysis of the discourse of the five most determining tweets in each of the actions was carried out. Results showed a Western superiority that labels Islam in a derogatory way. Social interaction among participants was limited, and coordinated ideological Islamophobic actions were detected in content promoted by Twitter.