Inside the surge in anti-Muslim hate speech on social media
Hate speech against Muslims has seen a rise recently on social media since the start of the Israel-Palestine “war” and as India's general elections drew nearer
On 7 October 2023, the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas began. From the same day onwards, social media platforms such as Facebook, X and Instagram experienced an influx of anti-Muslim misinformation and hate speech.
Between 7 October and 14 November 2023, 7amleh also known as The Arab Centre for the Social Media Advancement, documented over one million instances of hate speech and/or incitement to violence in Hebrew targeting Palestinians and Palestinian rights advocates on social media platforms.
Most of these cases were primarily found on X because the platform lacks adequate moderation tools to prevent the spread of hate speech and calls for violence. 68% of the recorded instances involved hate speech and incitement based on political affiliations and/or nationalist sentiments, while 29% were motivated by racism. The remaining cases included violence based on gender and religion, among others.
Furthermore, the Palestinian Observatory of Digital Rights Violations (7or) collaborated with 7amleh and documented 1,447 instances of digital rights violations on social media platforms in the same time period. These violations comprised 573 cases of account restrictions or content takedowns impacting Palestinian users or supporters of Palestinian rights. Additionally, there were 904 verified cases of hate speech and incitement to violence.
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International heads of state, celebrities and media outlets also repeated unsubstantiated claims online that Hamas had beheaded 40 Israeli babies, even though there was no official confirmation by Israeli authorities of this alleged horrific act.
Repeating the untrue story contributed to degrading Palestinians as "bloodthirsty monsters" and fueling widespread racism against them.
The spread of such misinformation led to an increase in violence against Muslims, as was the case in the tragic death of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a six-year-old Palestinian-American Muslim boy in Plainfield, Ill. He was stabbed 26 times by his family's white landlord, who also attacked Al-Fayoume's mother, shouting, "You Muslims must die!"
There was also a prevalence of hate speech and anti-Muslim misinformation coming from India, which the Middle East Monitor termed as "the epicentre of hate and misinformation against Palestinians."
Indian users of social media, especially X, were swamped with anti-Palestinian posts full of misinformation about the ongoing war. These were often posted by right-wing users aligned with the ideology of India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party.
BOOM, a fact-checking service, discovered that Indian influencers were also spreading disinformation that portrayed Palestine negatively and supported Israel.
These accounts shared misleading videos, one even falsely claiming that Hamas kidnapped a Jewish baby, garnering millions of views.
Another analysis conducted by the Narrative Research Lab on fake news originating or spreading from users in India revealed that out of 4,316 tweets analysed with the keyword "We Indians," approximately 1,250 expressed support for Israel, while about 250 supported Palestine in the Israel-Palestine conflict. This suggests a ratio of five to one in favour of Israel.
But among all the anti-Muslim misinformation and hate speech shared from India in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, one post on X stood out as particularly disturbing. It was shared directly from the official handle of India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on 7 October 2023.
It was a video compilation with a caption comparing Israel's current situation to that of India from 2004 to 2014, a period preceding the BJP's hold on central power.
The captions on the video stated, "What Israel is facing today, India suffered between 2004-14. Never forgive, never forget…," The video was in effect claiming that the attacks India experienced from Islamic militants during that period, were similar to the way Israel was attacked by Hamas on 7 October. It also subtly said that Indians should seek revenge.
This way, Indian Muslims were promptly dragged into the discussion of the Israel-Hamas war by India's central government itself.
It is also worth noting that anti-Muslim hate on social media platforms in India was on the rise long before October 2023. Earlier media reports pointed to how the Hindutva party BJP uses WhatsApp as an important tool to spread its hate against Indian Muslims.
For instance, a report by Rappler cited a 2022 survey by Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) of 1,056 Muslims in India — where at least 60% of the participants surveyed had come across content on digital platforms that incites violence against Muslims.
"The circulation of hate speech or xenophobic content intensified as India's general elections drew nearer," said Miraj Ahmed Chowdhury, the Managing Director of Bangladesh-based media research firm Digitally Right.
This notion aligns with the findings of the Indian Hate Lab. As per their 2023 report, done in collaboration with Hindutva Watch which tracked the daily online activity of Hindu far-right groups, and their national and regional leaders, a total of 668 hate speech events online from India alone were recorded in 2023.
The report shows that there were 255 recorded events in the first half of 2023. However, in the second half of the year, the number experienced a significant rise of 62% to reach 413 events. This surge can be attributed to the culmination of the Israel-Hamas war as well as the impending Indian general elections.
Needless to say, if the online accounts of the general population were taken into consideration, the number would grow manifold.
And now, with the Indian general elections already underway, nearly all instances of hate speech against Muslims are being utilised as "a political tool to fuel polarisation and communal tensions between the irrational fractions of both Hindus and Muslims in India," stated Dr Tofail Ahmed, an academic, researcher and governance expert.
According to him, "Narendra Modi is India's biggest hate speech promoter," as reflected in his recent controversial speech in Rajasthan. During the speech, Modi asserted that if voted into power, the main opposition, the Indian National Congress, would distribute the nation's wealth among "infiltrators" and "those who have more children," in an apparent reference to the Muslim community.
To bolster his argument, he even went as far as to claim that when Congress was in power they stated that Muslims have the first right over resources.
The misinformation shared through this speech was promptly debunked by the liberal segments of the Indian media. One of India's leading dailies, The Hindu, even published a "fact check" to counter the claims made by Modi.
However, despite efforts by media outlets to debunk misinformation, when political leaders themselves engage in hate speech or share propaganda offline, it becomes challenging to prevent its circulation online. As a result, social media platforms are now saturated with Modi's speech in Rajasthan.
Essentially, all posts containing footage or quotations from the speech are spreading hate speech or misinformation unless the intention is to counter it. However, according to the community standards of social media platforms, they do not meet the criteria to be taken down.
Meanwhile, Chowdhury also highlighted that while India generally promotes friendly relations with its neighbours as part of its diplomatic policy, the same sentiment is not evident during the ongoing electoral campaigns.
He cited another example of an X post by BJP on 23 April, alleging that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had surrendered Indian territory to "Bangladeshi infiltrators."
According to him, the impact of fact-checking too can often be quite limited, as "a fact checker can only verify a fact if it's verifiable."
To put things into perspective, while it's possible to fact-check specific claims like "1,000 people have migrated here," when someone makes a vague statement like "the country is infiltrated with these people" and uses it to spread hate, fact-checkers are unable to effectively counter it. In that case, social media platforms can take no further actions and remain silent.
Moreover, Dr Ahmed pointed out that the world in itself is already more polarised than ever, and so he doesn't see any chance of global pressure being exerted on India to stop its patronage of hate speech and propaganda.
"The United States is helping Ukraine in the name of humanity, yet they also support Israel. This reflects the reality of the current global scenario. Each country prioritises its own interests, and India's growing economic strength has made it a significant player. Hence, external intervention in its internal affairs is unlikely," Dr Ahmed explained.
He also added that these instances of hate speech will further polarise India, potentially leading to the increased marginalisation of Indian Muslims. He suggests that after the elections, they may face local oppression in terms of education and employment, with the added risk of women being subjected to abuse.
With that said, he believes that news media can still be the final recourse for victims of misinformation and false propaganda.
Chowdhury also added, "News media and journalists can utilise their editorial policies to hold those spreading hate or false propaganda accountable, thus shaping public opinion more effectively."
He, however, reckoned that social media platforms should have better policies in place designed to address hate speech in political campaigns.
He further emphasised that the religious polarisation in South Asia resulting from hate speech is unlikely to dissipate soon and will continue to have far-reaching consequences.
"We have seen in the past that when anti-Muslim hate campaigns spread in India, they also ignite reciprocal sentiments, fuelling hate against minority Hindus in bordering countries," he concluded.
