Social media and hate speech: "Analysis of Islamophobic posts on social media"

Social media has emerged with the development of internet technologies, is characterized as a platform that provides speed in communication and attracts the masses with its ease of use. Social media includes applications that are both interacted with and influenced by. Social media can reach large masses instantly. The concept of hate speech is called any form of expression that encourages and defends racist hatred and xenophobia. Descriptive content analysis was preferred in the research due to its suitability for the purpose of the subject and the questions it seeks answers to. Descriptive content analysis includes the interpretation of texts. With this method, a relationship is tried to be established between descriptive content analysis and hate speech. The sample of the research consists of the posts on X. The data of the research consists of the visuals and discourses on X, which is the subject of the research. In this study, hate speech was examined in the context of anti-religion. As a result of the analysis, it was seen that there is a direct relationship between hate speech and social media. It was determined that social media is effective in creating and spreading hate speech. In this study, the question of "is there a significant relationship between social media and hate speech?" was tried to be answered. As a result of the examinations, 42 posts suitable for examination were reached in the research. While analyzing the posts examined on X between September 1 and November 28, the categories put forward by the Runnymede Trust were followed. According to the analysis; 20 posts were reached from the Violence category (Physical Attack, Insult, Verbal Harassment) and 22 posts were reached from the Prejudice category (Approaching with Prejudice in the Media and Daily Life). No posts were found related to the Discrimination and Exclusion (Keeping Away from Politics and Authority) category. Keywords: New media, Social media Hate speech, X, Islamophobia