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In a cross-national survey of internet users between the ages of ﬁfteen and thirty,
53 percent of American respondents report being exposed to hate material
online, while 48 percent of Finns, 39 percent of Brits, and 31 percent of
Germans report exposure. Using online social networks frequently and
visiting “dangerous sites” are two of the strongest predictors of such exposure
(Hawdon et al. 2017). Perhaps explaining the discrepancy between empirical
ﬁndings that hate speech is quite rare on mainstream platforms and high rates of
self-reported exposure, Kaakinen et al. (2018) ﬁnd that, while hateful content is
rarely produced, it is more visible than other forms of content. Hate speech is
also more common in particular online demographic communities than others.
For example, Saha et al. (2019) ﬁnd that hate speech is more prevalent in
subreddits associated with particular colleges and universities than popular
subreddits that were not associated with colleges or universities.
Social_Media_and_Democracy