Anti-Muslim hatred has had a disastrous impact on Muslim minority communities around the world as Twitter has grown to be a major hub for the spread and amplification of anti-Muslim propaganda, according to a report by TRT World.
The study by the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) – the apex Muslim body in the Australian state of Victoria, found the US, the UK, and India contributed a staggering 86% of anti-Muslim content on Twitter during a three-year period. The investigation revealed that there were at least 3,759,180 Islamophobic posts made on Twitter between 28 August 2019 and 27 August 2021.
Researchers from the ICV identified key themes like the connection between Islam and terrorism, the portrayal of Muslims as sexual assaulters, the hoax that asserts that Muslim immigrants are displacing white people in the West and Hindus in India, and the labelling of halal as an inhumane practice.
India’s Twitter Users
Researchers hold the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the country’s ruling party, responsible for inciting anti-Muslim prejudice.
“The BJP has actively normalised hatred towards Muslims such that 55.12% of anti-Muslim hatred tweets now originate in India,” researchers said.
ICV further ascribed the spike in anti-Muslim sentiment on Indian Twitter accounts to laws that discriminate against Muslims and deny them citizenship.
US Twitter Users
The increase of anti-Muslim hate on Twitter coincided with the policies and rhetoric of the late President Donald Trump. The former US president, who routinely tweets in support of his Muslim immigration ban and anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, is among the third most frequently cited users in anti-Muslim posts.
UK’s Twitter Users
According to a report by TRT World, the prevalence of anti-Muslim tweets in the UK has been attributed to a number of factors, including Trump’s animus toward Muslims, anti-immigration sentiments sparked by the refugee crisis, the Brexit debate, as well as racism from former prime minister Boris Johnson, who once compared Muslim women who wear the niqab to “letter boxes.”
The research concludes that there is a direct link between online hatred and offline hate crimes. As a result, social media companies like Twitter must take responsible action to halt anti-Muslim hate Tweets.
