New UK research identifies ‘5 walls of Islamophobic hate’

LONDON: As British police report a surge in hate crimes since the Brexit vote, new research into Islamophobia, especially in the country, has identified the most common ways Muslims are depicted on Facebook, described as the “five walls of Islamophobic hate”.

The most common type of abuse posted on Facebook depicts Muslim women as threats to national security and suggests all Muslims should be deported, according to the study published on Monday in the “International Journal of Cyber Criminology”.

Study author Imran Awan of Birmingham City University told Hindustan Times, “Islamophobia is much more prevalent on social media sites such as Facebook with a number of far-right groups and individuals using Facebook to target Muslim communities before Brexit following trigger events.”

He added, “What this study shows is how attitudes towards Muslims were online before Brexit and how they translate to racist attacks after Brexit, when people felt more comfortable in targeting Muslim communities because of fears around immigration.” The research report titled “Islamophobia Online: Inside Facebook’s Walls of Hate” examined 100 Facebook pages, posts and comments and uncovered nearly 500 instances of anti-Muslim hate speech.

The networking site was trawled for references to Muslims and Woolwich, Muslims and Islam, Muslims and Extremism, and Muslims and Terrorism, with the results covering dozens of pages including those of rightwing groups.

Awan found there were five recurring ways in which Muslims were portrayed during abuse – which he defines as “the five walls of Islamophobic hate: Muslims are terrorists; Muslims are rapists; Muslim women are a security threat; a war exists between Muslims and ‘us’; Muslims should be deported”. HTC

THE MOST COMMON TYPE OF ABUSE POSTED ON FACEBOOK DEPICTS MUSLIM WOMEN AS THREATS TO NATIONAL SECURITY