Empirical Reconsideration of Anonymity Effects on Communication Toxicity in Social Media

This study investigates the relationship between anonymity and content toxicity on social media, challenging the prevailing assumption that anonymity inherently fosters toxic expression. Analyzing 563,598 text samples from the platform Bilibili, we compared toxicity levels between anonymous danmaku and non-anonymous standard comments, controlling for structural features such as text length. A beta regression analysis revealed that non-anonymous comments were, on average, 29.3% more toxic than anonymous danmaku. At the user level, posting behavior correlated with toxicity: users who only posted danmaku exhibited the lowest toxicity, while those who only posted comments showed the highest. Interestingly, dual-mode users displayed contextual adaptability. Their anonymous danmaku were more toxic than those of danmaku-only users but less toxic than their non-anonymous comments, suggesting strategic modulation in response to anonymity contexts. These findings contribute to online communication theory and inform platform governance, questioning identity disclosure’s assumed efficacy in reducing toxicity.