2021-07-01, Losada Díaz, José Carlos, Zamora Medina, Rocío, Martínez Martínez, Helena, Información y Documentación

This work analyses the presence and management of “hate speech” on Instagram within the political debate. The aim was to classify, quantify and analyse different forms of hate expression on this social network platform, based on a study of comments to the official Instagram accounts of the main candidates and political parties standing in the Spanish General Election in April 2019. The research included a quantitative methodology based on content analysis of a sample of 423 comments received on both candidates’ and political parties’ Instagram profiles. The results show the low incidence of hate speech on this social network (3.8% of the total) with interesting differences with regard to its objective - higher among candidates than in political parties – and nuanced by ideological reasons. Moreover, a minimal management of hate speech comments was observed by candidates and political parties.