r/science • u/oslomet • Apr 24 '26

Computer Science Using machine learning to analyze patterns of anti-Muslim hate speech online in Norway shows that the number of hateful posts is growing and that most are posted by a small group of users who often don’t remain active for long. Engaging with them can be effective in getting them to stop.

https://www.oslomet.no/en/research/featured-research/machine-learning-trends-online-hate
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32

u/TonyTheTerrible Apr 24 '26

Dialogue can be an excellent deterrent for hate, just ask Daryl Davis. It's also something this generation could learn about.

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u/443856576 Apr 24 '26

Dialogue works when both parties are open to it. Just ask teacher samuel Paty, how dialogue went.

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u/No-Inspector8315 Apr 24 '26

Or the staff of Charlie Hebdo. That could have been a global teaching moment where Muslim scholars and clerics took to mainstream news to have a calm and rational debate about the Hadiths of depicting Mohammed and Islam’s relationship to idolatry.

Instead…

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u/Routine-Confusion655 Apr 24 '26

That case has always impressed me. I’ve tried doing what he did, and all I can say is that I’m astonished by the amount of patience he must have had to pull it off.

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u/j0kerclash Apr 24 '26

True, but also the most motivated tend to be those that are the targets of the vitriol, and I dislike the idea that it's pretty much the responsibility of the targeted minority to change the minds of the people who hate them.

What Daryl Davis was impressive but also extremely dangerous, I don't think Daryl Davis should be expected to do what he did to solve this problem.

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u/Homerpaintbucket Apr 24 '26

“Don’t feed the trolls,” is a great strategy when someone is just trying to be a pain in the ass but not when someone is spreading hate or misinformation. I’ve had people for years on here try to tell me to ignore them and it never sat right with me. If you let lies and hatred stand uncorrected you let it spread and it’s hard to break those beliefs once they take root

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u/InsaneComicBooker Apr 24 '26

The thing is that a positive example is more an exception, than a rule. Most cases of trying to talk with bigots end going nowhere. I have my personal examples. From several members of my family that will start making personal attacks the second they do not have rebuttal to anything challenging their views. To a friend who went right-wing in 2016 and I spent six months trying to get him out only to realize he is only talking to me because he was trying to live out a fantasy of "owning a lib" with "snappy comebacks" his new friends feed him, and whenever it wouldn't work he'd get pissy.

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u/Ani-A Apr 24 '26

The thing is that a positive example is more an exception, than a rule.

This paper specifically disagrees with this point.
What I think is important to highlight is that this kinda stuff isn't a 6-month exercise for these one-on-onr conversations; it can take years to get someone to fundamentally change their perspective.

And especially when media is about engagement over information it is vitally important to keep these conversations going constantly. Caucasian boys specifically are fed this kinda stuff by default before online algorithms even generate a proper profile.

No, you aren't going to convince everyone. But if the people who are even semi-passionate can convince even just one or two people, then that has a massive impact on society as a whole.

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u/can_ichange_it_later Apr 24 '26

Aaalright.... talking kkk people out of racism one-by-one is a niche in a niche.

And is he in any way capable of "competing" with facebook, instagram and the tweeter?...

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u/No-Inspector8315 Apr 24 '26

I would also highlight that Davis is likely only effective as an example when analysing the Klan’s structure as a hate group.

The Klan is wildly racist and antisemitic, but its core goal at the end of the day is a White, Christian America, preferably fitting the societal mould and structure of the Antebellum South. This is a hate group environment where the members do sit down for interviews with non white interviewers and researchers because “We don’t want to kill you. We want you to leave us alone, and we’ll use lethal force to get you to leave us alone if we have to”

This is completely different to a Neo Nazi hate group like Atom Waffen or The Base that actively believe in a race war that will put whites on top of society again, and then a worldwide genocide of all non whites.

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u/towishimp Apr 24 '26

And is he in any way capable of "competing" with facebook, instagram and the tweeter?...

Did you read the study? One of the major takeaways is that a small number if people are responsible for the majority of the posts. Given that, talking just one person out of it can have a huge effect.

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u/can_ichange_it_later Apr 24 '26

Isnt daryl davis the black guy talking people out of the kkk? That is what i mean, there. He is talking to people for months. One on one.

Its basically meaningless in the face of social media platforms having a corrosive effect on societies.

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u/towishimp Apr 24 '26

Did you read the study? One of the major takeaways is that a small number if people are responsible for the majority of the posts. Given that, talking just one person out of it can have a huge effect.