Break the Hate: A Survey of Youth Experiences with Hate and Violent Extremism Online

Abstract

As the most prolific users of the Internet, youth are exposed to a diverse array of harmful content and experiences, including cyberbullying and sexual exploitation. What is less well understood is the impact of hate and violent extremism on youth in these online spaces. This study surveyed over 800 youth from Alberta, Canada, to identify where they most frequently encountered hateful and extremist content online, how they react to it, and what they believed were the most appropriate responses to these problems. This study adds to a growing literature which takes youth perspectives seriously in the study of this problem. Our study found that more than three-quarters of youth surveyed reported encountering hateful content, while more than two-thirds reported encountering extremist content. Our findings add to a growing debate on the relationship between identity factors and exposure. While our results indicate respondents who identify as female are more likely to report encountering extremist and hateful content than males, intersectionality factors shed new light on the patterns of online exposure among youth. Specifically, we found that the effect of gender is mediated by other identity factors, like being a visible minority or identifying as 2SLGBTQ+.