86% of Anti Muslim Twitter posts Originate from India, US, & UK: Report

TRT World recently cited a study by the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) which revealed some shocking statistics regarding anti-Muslim campaigns. According to the study, between 2017 and 2019, Twitter users from India, the US, and the UK generated 86% of malicious online content, resulting in physical attacks on Muslims.

Anti-Muslim hostility has reached “epidemic proportions,” the United Nations warned in 2021 and this report validates the concern. Worryingly, this plea has mostly fallen on deaf ears, especially in the executive boardrooms of social media companies, who have taken little to no action to remove anti-Muslim information from their platforms. This inactivity is having a terrible effect on Muslim minority populations across the globe, with Twitter becoming a main avenue for the spread and amplification of anti-Muslim bigotry.

Between 2017 and 2019, the Islamic Council of Victoria, which represents an estimated 270 thousand community members, discovered approximately four million anti-Muslim posts.

Situation in India:

The ICV also identified a vicious cycle of hatred that manifests itself in both online and offline attacks against the global community. Indian users alone were responsible for more than half of all abusive and offensive posts. Furthermore, another source stated that Indian Twitter users are responsible for 55.12% of anti-Muslim posts on the microblogging platform,

Researchers claim that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s ruling party, is to blame for the propagation and amplification of anti-Muslim hatred among Twitter users in India. They claim that “(the) BJP has aggressively normalized hatred against Muslims such that 55.12 percent of anti-Muslim hatred tweets now originate in India.”

Situation in US & UK:

On the other hand, the issue of anti-Muslim hate on Twitter in the United States and the United Kingdom has been a concern for many researchers. The prevalence of hateful rhetoric on social media is attributed to several factors. In the US, the discourse surrounding the Muslim immigration ban and anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, including those that suggest Democrats are colluding with “Islamists,” are some of the factors that contribute to anti-Muslim tweets. Notably, former President Donald Trump is mentioned frequently in these posts.

Similarly, the situation in the UK is also concerning, with various factors contributing to the prevalence of anti-Muslim tweets. These include the global impact of Trump’s anti-Muslim views, anti-immigrant sentiments brought about by the refugee crisis, and discourse surrounding Brexit. Additionally, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s comments comparing Muslim women who wear the niqab to “letter boxes” have also contributed to the problem.

Check out? Social Media Platforms Fail to Act on 89% of anti-Muslim Posts: Report