Researchers studying different social media platforms identify how algorithms play a key role in the dissemination of anti-Muslim content, prompting wider hate against the community.
US Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar has often been a target of online hate. But much of the hate directed at her gets amplified through fake, algorithm-generated accounts, a study has revealed.
Lawrence Pintak, former journalist and media researcher, spearheaded the research in July 2021 looking into the tweets mentioning the US congresswoman during her campaign. One of the crucial findings from the research was that half of the tweets involved “overtly Islamophobic or xenophobic language or other forms of hate speech”.
What’s particularly interesting to note is that much of the hateful posts came from a minority of what Pintak’s study calls provocateurs — user profiles belonging mostly to conservatives, who spread anti-Muslim conversations.
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