Prevalence, Substance and Responses to Hate Speech Against LGBTQ Communities on TikTok

Despite ongoing efforts, online hate speech remains a pervasive issue on social media, particularly affecting vulnerable groups such as LGBTQ communities. While there is extensive debate around how best to address this problem, counter speech is emerging as a promising solution. However, existing research has primarily focused on detecting hateful content, often overlooking broader aspects such as the specific topics of discrimination and the spread of countermeasures online. This study examines the prevalence of hate speech and counter speech in LGBTQ online spaces on TikTok, analysing day-to-day interactions to identify recurring themes and targets. Results reveal that hate speech is widespread: at least 3.5% of messages contain hateful content, spread by approximately 4% of users, and one in three videos attracts hate comments or replies, primarily targeting LGBTQ topics explicitly. Gender identity emerges as a major focus, with transgender and non-binary individuals being frequent targets. Although much hate engagement goes unanswered, when responses occur, they are often in the form of counter speech, especially when LGBTQ-related topics are targeted. These findings improve our understanding of the nature and extent of online hate speech against LGBTQ communities, confirm counter speech as an employed response, and provide a foundation for further research aimed at developing strategies to promote safer, more inclusive social media environments.