Exposing the Extent of Online Hate Crimes and Hate Speech, and the Barriers and Challenges in Responding to Them

Dear Colleagues,

Our growing reliance on the processes of globalisation presents enormous benefits to societies in terms of the movement of cultures, peoples, and economics, with opportunities for wealth, knowledge, and growth, but simultaneously presents threats, fear, conflict, and greater risks of both criminality and harm for many groups.  Where previously people with extremist views and opinions were isolated, they can now connect with like-minded individuals, their activities can be mostly anonymous, and they can establish virtual communities globally.  The growth of new forms of communication and the use of propaganda to promote ideologies and abuse has led to international concerns about the extent of online hate and increased reporting of targeted online abuse, including trolling and doxxing.  Online platforms and social media are weaponised for the promotion, recruitment, and discriminatory abuse of people and groups.  The accessibility, popularity, and immediacy of the internet are thus an area of concern for policy and lawmakers, but the defence of freedom of speech has been utilised to reject curtailing online harm and abuse.  As such, “Expressing hate has become socially acceptable, stigmatising and dehumanising individuals and groups of people… Widespread use of the internet and social media has increasingly brought hate speech online” (EPRS, 2024). Additionally, although the UN is beginning to recognise the growth of hate speech and the impact of this on conflict, terrorism, violence against women, and broadly human rights, its focus is on de-escalating hate speech into violent action, and there remains no international legal definition of hate speech.

This call for papers is particularly interested in research which considers concerns such as the followoing: what are the challenges for researching online hate crimes; does online hate directly correlate to offline/real-world harm, and if so, where does responsibility lie; are current regulations sufficient and enforceable; what can be done to address increasingly inflammatory language which can be a catalyst to abuse, and should we consider amendments to freedom of expression?

We welcome papers that consider the following:

1. The impact of global conflicts, crimes, and ethno-violence on online hate speech.
2. Legal and policy attempts to restrict, mitigate, and/or monitor online platforms and media sites, and their levels of success.
3. Negotiating the boundaries of freedom of speech and policing online hate.
4. Intersectionalities of online hate speech and hate crimes, for example, in relation to violence against women.

This Special Issue will bring together researchers and academics both within and beyond the field of hate studies to highlight the challenges to online safety and the harms of hate.

Reference

European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS). 2024. Hate speech and hate crime: Time to act? Website Online: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2024/762389/EPRS_BRI(2024)762389_EN.pdf (accessed on 29 December 2025).

Dr. Jane Healy
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.