Researchers at Rutgers University found a sharp rise in hate speech directed at the Hindu community.
The report titled anti-Hindu disinformation: A case study in Hinduphobia on Social Media outlines how White supremacists and 4chan genocidal pepe memes are spreading on extremist Islamic websites.
The report determined the right-wingers hope to “fuel division as part of an influence campaign to accuse Hindus of perpetrating a genocide against minorities in India,” reports The Print.
“I wouldn’t say I was surprised, given that there’s been a massive rise in all forms of ethnic hatred, whether it’s antisemitism, or Islamophobia, or anti-Asian hate,” said lead researcher and graduating senior, Prasiddha Sudhakar, to KQED.
The researchers found a huge spike in anti-Hindu speech beginning in the fall of 2021. They found it both on extremist sites and mainstream ones such as Twitter, TikTok and Telegram.
“Parag Agrawal was appointed as Twitter CEO,” said Sudhakar, citing the November promotion. “Immediately, there arises anti-Hindu disinformation on social media, where there were spikes in certain ethnic slurs used against him in particular.”
Researchers found the use of Hinduphobic code words and memes that catch the mainstream platforms unaware.
“What is new is the social media context in which hate messages are being shared. Our prior work has shown a correlation between the intensity of hate messaging over social media and the eruption of real-world acts of violence,” said John J. Farmer Jr., director of both the Miller Center and the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.
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