Hate was not born on the internet. But the internet teaches us to hate more

Do not open your social networks planning to hate something. The idea is just taking a look, spending time. But in a few minutes he is angrily responding to a comment, sharing indignant news or discussing with a stranger. It is not an accident: it is architecture.

Internet is not a neutral stadium. It is designed to capture attention. And attention is not attached to the banal, but to which he arouses strong emotions. Indignation, fear, anger. It’s not a bug, it’s design.

The numbers show how hatred has grown digitally. In Brazil, 81% of the people listened to by the United Nations in 2024 said they were already the victim of an online hate speech, in particular by gender, race, religion and sexual orientation. Among the children and teenagers, the Tic Kids online survey 2024 showed that 3 out of 10 young people underwent personal crimes on the Internet.

In electoral periods, the problem explodes. In 2022, the accusations of online hatred crimes in Brazil grew by 39.3% compared to 2021. Xenophobia increased by 821%, religious intolerance 522% and Misoginia 184%. Safenet stressed as years of electoral heels of concentration up to 650% in complaints.

In the world, logic is similar. After Hamas’ attacks on October 7, 2023, anti -semic comments on YouTube grew by 4.963% in a few days. In India, the speeches against religious minorities increased by 74% in 2024. The United Nations speak of an alarming increase in hatred against Muslims on digital platforms.

It is not that algorithms cannot face hatred. They were created to maximize involvement. And anger is committed. A study published in PNA has shown that the content that attacks “the other group” is a double possibility of sharing with respect to positive posts on the group itself. The internal Facebook documents revealed that the platform has attributed five times more weight to the “anger” reactions regarding “enjoyment”. The result was predictable: toxic posts obtained an extra range. After noticing the direct correlation between “reactions of anger” and disinformation, the company has reduced this weight.

In 2025, an academic audit showed that the X ranking amplifies hostility towards external groups and does not maximize what users say they prefer. In other words, the car gives us what contains us, not what makes us good.

The impact is not limited to digital. A study in Germany revealed that the victims of online hate speeches feel more insecurity even in the environment offline than the victims of facial attacks without digital exposure. Digital hatred is not just an echo: it model our perception of security and belonging. He does not sleep, he does not make a holiday and lives with us 24 hours a day, in our pockets.

And there is a psychological effect. By repeating the experience of hating online, we condition ourselves to react in other contexts. Anger is no longer an exception and becomes a habit.

Recent searches show that we often find hatred speeches often: two out of three people often report with hostile content online (between August 2022 and September 2023. This is not an isolated noise. The design of the platform amplifies this noise.

In a study on X, comparing the posts with and without hatred speeches, the most offensive words generated 70% more than I like per day, while random tweets grew only 22% in the same metric. That is, the negative emotion not only attracts attention, but converts, committed, viralizes, monetizes.

The problem worsens when the platforms withdraw. The goal has announced a new policy in January 2025 which reduced its proactive moderation and began to depend more on users’ complaints. The center by the opposite of digital hatred estimates that this can entail 277 million to more harmful places per year, with the addition of violence, bullying and hatred speeches.

Digital formed us to believe that anger is the language. We wrote, recorded and published with Rancore because it has fun, it seems human, gives the impression of our voice. But every time we have transformed the anger into content, we nourish a march that does not return independence: it returns more hatred.

Renato Dolci is a political scientist and master in Economics (Sorbona). He is director of data and analysis of Timelens, Cro di Hike and CEO of Ino.

Source: Terra

Ben

Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.