Hidden Hate: Analysis of Hate Speech on a Darknet Forum

Research relating to hate speech and the darknet have both grown significantly in the previous decade. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of empirical research exploring how hate speech manifests within the darknet, the groups targeted. This study seeks to fill this gap in the literature by investigating the different targets of hate speech within the darknet forum Dread and how posts within this forum are affected by hate motivated events. Through analysis of posts (n = 1,047) 3 months before and after major hate-motivated events, this study finds that approximately 13% (n =135) of posts in our sample contain hate speech targeting several groups. In addition we also examined the variations in targets between forum-specific subjects (internal) and targets outside of the forum (external). Our findings suggest that there is limited conversation surrounding hate-motivated events discussed in mainstream media on Dread. However, instances of hate speech, predominantly targeting religious, racial, and gender-related groups, are present at a lower percentage in comparison to research conducted about hate speech on social media platforms.