Online hate and violence

Due to the increase in hate-motivated mass killing attacks being associated with the perpetrator’s involvement in online hate communities, concern has been growing in the media regarding the extent to which an individual’s online activity can radicalise them. These attacks can be motivated by a bias against race, gender, or religion, such as the 2021 Buffalo, New York shooting, where the shooter targeted the black community. They can also be gender-based, like the incel van attack in Toronto in 2018. This research project examines the connection between hate-motivated violence and social media. Using case examples of the Toronto Van Attack and the Tops supermarket shooting and a semi-systematic literature review, the findings suggest that social media, through design features, policies, memes, sense of belonging, and trolling, can influence individuals within these groups towards violence.