Hate Speech in Virtual Space. Analysis of the Activity of Polish Left-Wing Politicians on the X Platform

Effective activity in social media is an indispensable element of modern political marketing strategies. „X“, formerly known as Twitter, serves as an obvious field for the expansion of politicians and all kinds of debates on broadly understood social issues. Despite the numerous advantages of this medium, the author identifies a significant risk: the potential intensification of hate speech in the online sphere. The main goal of the article is to verify the thesis about the tendency to create hate content on the „X“ platform. The research group consists of politicians of the Left of the 10th term of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. Observations were conducted between October 13 to November 13, 2024. By conducting the study in a quantitative and qualitative manner, taking into account quantitative and qualitative methods, a number of data were obtained that allowed to answer the research questions posed in the introduction of the work.