The Influence of Hate Speech on Social Media on Shaping Young People’s Socio-Political Attitudes

Abstract

The modern media environment today includes forms of interactivity through a wide variety of communication channels. Promoting and supporting hatred, violence, and intolerance through the media and other communication channels in sensitive ethnically divided societies, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, can result in immeasurable consequences. The research aimed to analyze, within a selected group of respondents, the degree of recognition and perception of content with elements of hate on social networks using the survey and focus group method, and to identify possible forms of influence of such content on the formation of attitudes of young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The analysis starts from the standpoint that adequate forms of recognition and condemnation of all forms of dissemination of content with elements of hate can influence the creation of consensus, unity, tolerance, peace, and a stable and safe socio-political environment in the future. The research results show that young people to a significant extent recognize content with elements of hate speech and assume their harmful consequences. Social networks, as the primary communication tools of young people, are becoming a space in which identities are affirmed, contested and redefined, and hate narratives often gain wide reach and legitimacy through user interaction. Hate speech on social networks is not manifested exclusively through open and explicit forms of insults, but also through covert discursive patterns, with topics related to ethnic and religious identity being the dominant triggers for polarized user reactions and the production of additional radicalization of discourse.