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The prevalence of online hate material is a public concern, but few studies have analyzed the extent to which young people are exposed to such material. This study investigated the extent of exposure to and victimization by online hate material among young social media users.

The study analyzed data collected from a sample of Finnish Facebook users (n = 723) between the ages of 15 and 18. Analytic strategies were based on descriptive statistics and logistic regression models.

A majority (67%) of respondents had been exposed to hate material online, with 21% having also fallen victim to such material. The online hate material primarily focused on sexual orientation, physical appearance, and ethnicity and was most widespread on Facebook and YouTube. Exposure to hate material was associated with high online activity, poor attachment to family, and physical offline victimization. Victims of the hate material engaged in high levels of online activity. Their attachment to family was weaker, and they were more likely to be unhappy. Online victimization was also associated with the physical offline victimization.

While the online world has opened up countless opportunities to expand our experiences and social networks, it has also created new risks and threats. Psychosocial problems that young people confront offline overlap with their negative online experiences. When considering the risks of Internet usage, attention should be paid to the problems young people may encounter offline.

This study expands our knowledge about exposure to online hate material among users of the most popular social networking sites. It is the first study to take an in-depth look at the hate materials young people encounter online in terms of the sites where the material was located, how users found the site, the target of the hate material, and how disturbing users considered the material to be.

Purpose – This chapter investigates if Ronald Aker’s Social Structure Social Learning (SSSL) theory can help explain who is involved with the production of online materials considered hateful or extremist.

Methodology/Approach – After discussing how SSSL can account for becoming exposed to online extremism and then becoming involved in its production, the authors conduct a logistic regression on data from 1,008 American adults that predicts if they produced online hate materials with variables derived from SSSL.

Findings – Results strongly support SSSL. While structural factors such as the respondents’ differential social organization, differential social location, and differential location in the social structure predict production of online hate materials, the effect of these factors is largely mediated once social learning variables are included in the model. Specifically, the respondents’ general definitions related to violence, specific definitions related to hate speech, and differential association accounts for variation in the production of online hate materials.

Originality/Value – This research contributes to the literature in two primary ways: (1) the authors investigate a critical, yet understudied, factor involved in the radicalization process; and (2) the authors demonstrate that a leading criminological theory applies to this form of deviance. This research also suggests key variables for creating strategies for countering violent extremism.

The purpose of this paper is to explore internet users’ experiences of cyberhate in the aspects of ethnicity, religion, sexual preference and political perspective.

Researchers employed an exploratory survey method to examine internet users’ experiences of cyberhate. The participants of the study were determined by purposive sampling methods to attain maximum variety among internet users with high-level digital literacy skills. The data were collected from 355 internet users affiliated with two universities in Turkey and the USA using a personal data form and a survey (Cyberhate Experience Survey) of which reliability and validity indexes were ensured.

The results indicated that participants have observed and experienced cyberhate at different levels targeting their ethnic, religious, gender-based and political identities. The findings also pointed out that gender, income and socio-political identities are significant variables on exposure to cyberhate regardless of cultural and educational boundaries. The majority of survey respondents reported that they had encountered cyberhate mostly on social media platforms.

The findings of the study imply that to address the hate speech problem comprehensively, the author must enlighten people, change their way of thinking and broaden their perspectives by using measures such as intercultural dialogue, critical thinking, media literacy, education on tolerance and diversity.

This research was intended to contribute into the need to elaborate on various aspects of cyberhate, which is shared by academics, thinkers, journalists and educators. It may also serve to clarify how frequently internet users encounter hateful content and harassment online, which can have social consequences and influence young people’s trust to other people.

This study aims to examine the impact of social media on adolescents’ social behavior, personal conduct, interactions, education, communication, attitudes, skills and abilities. In addition, the study seeks to determine the barriers to social media use by adolescents.

A convenience sampling technique was used to draw a sample of 300 adolescents from three educational zones in Sri Lanka. A questionnaire survey method was applied to collect raw data and descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the analysis.

Among the given different social media, YouTube was the most preferred social media for adolescents. Although the majority of adolescents used mobile phones to access social media, they were not high social media users. The impact of social media on adolescents’ education and communication was significantly positive although their intellectual involvement with social media communities was rather low. The use of social media had not decreased the time devoted to studies or seriously complicated adolescents’ social life or encouraged them toward violence and conflict. There was no indication that social media had led to them experiencing mental confusion, health problems, disorderly conduct, social imbalance or suicide.

This study helps to reduce the literature gap of pertinent literature because there is little research information available on social media use in Sri Lanka. Almost all studies based in Sri Lanka in relation to social media have been poorly designed or published in predatory journals. The findings of the present study should be a timely and important resource for policymakers in education, teachers in both government and private schools and many stakeholders not only in Sri Lanka but also in other similar nations.

Trust is one of the key elements in social interaction; however, few studies have analyzed how the proliferation of new information and communication technologies influences trust. The authors examine how exposure to hate material in the internet correlates with Finnish youths’ particularized and generalized trust toward people who have varying significance in different contexts of life. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to provide new information about current online culture and its potentially negative characteristics.

Using data collected in the spring of 2013 among Finnish Facebook users (n=723) ages 15-18, the authors measure the participants’ trust in their family, close friends, other acquaintances, work or school colleagues, neighbors, people in general, as well as people only met online.

Witnessing negative images and writings reduces both particularized and generalized trust. The negative effect is greater for particularized trust than generalized trust. Therefore, exposure to hate material seems to have a more negative effect on the relationships with acquaintances than in a more general context.

The study relies on a sample of registered social media users from one country. In future research, cross-national comparisons are encouraged.

The findings show that trust plays a significant role in online setting. Witnessing hateful online material is common among young people. This is likely to have an impact on perceived social trust. Hateful communication may then impact significantly on current online culture, which has a growing importance for studying, working life, and many leisure activities.

This chapter is about online hate speech propagated via platforms operated by social media companies (SMCs). It examines the options open to states in forcing SMCs to take responsibility for the hateful content that appears on their sites. It examines the technological and legal context for imposing legal obligations on SMCs, and analyses initiatives in Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union and elsewhere. It argues that while SMCs can play a role in controlling online hate speech, there are limitations to what they can achieve.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between subjective well-being (SWB) and exposure to online hate material using samples of Finnish and American youth and young adults. The authors aim to identify socio-demographic determinants of SWB and the social ties prevalent both online and offline that may be relevant to the discussion of how hate material associates with well-being.

The data are derived from online survey responses from both Finnish (n=555) and American (n=1,014) young people aged 15-30. The authors control for the possible effects of social trust, offline friendships, online victimisation and economic status, which have been found to associate with SWB in earlier studies.

The findings show a clear association that highlights the uniformity in how negatively intended material online affects young people, despite the inclusion of a cross-national comparison. The study confirms previous work concerning happiness and life satisfaction.

The survey used was not designed solely to address issues of SWB and as such a more targeted set of questions may have resulted in more in-depth data. Also, structural determinants of SWB, social spheres, and tie strength were analysed through proxy measures.

The findings concerning new variables linked to well-being and victimization in the cross-national context provide a new point of reference in terms of online hate being associated with happiness.

The authors consider a number of descriptive characteristics, determining the relationship between these variables and participants’ happiness. Through this cross-national data set, new comparisons were made possible between internet users of both countries. The study combines many earlier findings with new variables and theoretical frameworks to add new perspectives to the understanding of how well-being is affected online among young people.

The chapter explains how and why the Toronto District School Board (TDSB)'s Safe Schools policy has moved from a zero tolerance approach to progressive discipline and prevention and examines the outcomes for racialized students.

The chapter draws on findings from a critical policy analysis of the TDSB's Safe Schools policy cycle and its connections to various provincial policy cycles through a conceptual policy web.

The TDSB's transition from a zero tolerance approach to discipline to a combination of progressive discipline and prevention has arisen from complaints against the board and the government of Ontario filed by Ontario's Human Rights Commission (OHRC), the shooting death of a student in a TDSB high school and changing legislation. Although suspension and expulsions rates have decreased since changes were introduced, the board's discipline policies still appear to have a disproportionately negative impact on racialized students. The board and province's reluctance to collect race-based data in relation to suspensions and expulsions makes it difficult, yet not impossible, to track progress towards equitable policy outcomes.

Adopting a progressive discipline approach to maintaining safe schools can help keep more students in school without compromising school safety. However, Safe Schools policy includes both texts and practices so equitable outcomes are not guaranteed by rewriting formal policy texts.

Purpose – This chapter has three general purposes: to trace Canada’s hate speech laws from their policy inception to their current state; to identify the importance that media and mass communication have played in the creation and development of Canada’s hate speech laws; and to demonstrate the critical relationship that media has had to significant legal cases on hate speech. Methodology/Approach – This chapter historically maps the policy development of and legal challenges to Canada’s hate speech laws. It takes directed notice of the relationship of media and mass communication to the development and implementation of those laws. It engages with libertarian and egalitarian arguments on free speech throughout the chapter testing these ideas through an examination of the legal cases cited. Findings – Canadian legislators and courts have long grappled with the balancing of rights with respect to the issue of “hate speech.” Advances in mass communication technology have added intricate challenges to that legal balancing. Awareness of media’s allure to hatemongers and racial extremists and of media’s protean characteristics make regulation of its hateful content a continuous legal challenge. Canada’s greatest challenge yet to the regulation of hate speech will be its adaptive response to the growing phenomenon of online hate. Originality/Value – This chapter highlights the little recognized prescient statements made by the Cohen Committee about the allure of media and the dangers of its technological advancements in Canadian free speech debates. Providing a comprehensive survey of Canada’s “hate speech” laws, it recognizes the importance that advancements in mass communication have played in the creation and development of Canada’s “hate speech” laws.

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the opinions and perceptions of internet users regarding online hate speech, and bring cyberhate to the attention of internet users and policy stakeholders.

A sectional research design and survey method was adopted throughout the study to examine the opinions and perceptions of internet users regarding cyberhate by descriptively exploring the existing situation from various perspectives. The participants of the study were determined by purposive sampling methods to attain maximum variety among internet users who are considered as highly literate in technology use. The data were collected through a personal data form and a survey (Cyberhate Perception Scale) from 372 internet users living in Turkey and the USA.

The findings of the study revealed that the majority of participants do not perceive cyberhate as a part of freedom of speech and they believe that online hate behaviors, which they also consider to be a violation of human rights, should be deemed illegal and be punished accordingly. The findings, which were discussed in line with the existing research, indicated some significant predictors of internet users’ perceptions on cyberhate.

As cyberhate is an understudied area that raises concerns in terms of internet user exposure, the objective of this research is to understand tendencies about the opinions and perceptions of internet users regarding online hate speech, and bring cyberhate to the attention of internet users and policy stakeholders.