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Of: TT
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Photo: Naina Helén Jåma / TT
What really drives people to spread hate online? Anonymity is an important factor, according to one researcher. Stock Photography.
Online anonymity makes the barriers that actually exist disappear and people dare to write what they really think.
– People who hate the Internet would actually do it even if they had it, says researcher Nazar Akrami.
Noted polemicist, acclaimed opinion leader, and respected director of education, for one thing. Anonymous online role spreading hate on the other hand.
When it was revealed that Hamid Zafar, known as Rector Hamid, had disparagingly written about Jews and homosexuals under a pseudonym online, he exploded like a bomb. Previous revelations about politicians spreading hate and racism online through anonymous accounts have also received a lot of attention.
But what really drives people to spread hate on the internet?
Anonymity is the key
According to Nazar Akrami, a senior lecturer in psychology at Uppsala University who has previously researched hate online, the explanation lies in the fact that the rules that apply do not actually apply on the Internet.
– Actually, we know where the limits go and we know that it is difficult for us to cross them. But on the Internet, there are other rules, or rather a lack of rules, he says.
– The network offers the opportunity to show your true self without being limited by social norms.
And in order to do that, anonymity is the key, he says. The fact that the Internet offers the opportunity to be anonymous also means an opportunity to avoid consequences in real life.
“Anonymity paves the way for ignoring the social norms that make a society worth living in. If we actually behaved like we do online, I could go up to anyone and say anything,” Nazar says. Akrami.
Internet only one channel
At the same time, he emphasizes, it is not the Internet itself that produces hatred. It is rather a channel for it.
– Those who hate and threaten online are actually people who would actually do it even if they did. But when there are strong standards that make them impossible, they find other channels, like the Internet.
Another factor that comes into play is the ability to search for specific forums on the Internet. In Hamid Zafar’s case, he had partially shared hateful posts on open platforms such as Twitter, but also on the now-defunct far-right site Nationell.nu.
In such a forum, the rules are often even more permissive for spreading hateful content, and different users run the risk of angering each other. Nazar Akrami describes it as “getting into a subway car where everyone agrees with you on everything.”
– Actually, there are policemen, guards and other people who see what you do. Online viewers are often like-minded.
At the same time, the ability to remain anonymous has many benefits.
– You do not have to be wrong with anonymity in itself, but it is wrong to abuse it to intimidate or things like that, says Nazar Akrami.
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