Normalizing Racial Hostility: Identity Threat, Dehumanization, and Racial Polarization in X Discourse

Social media platforms have increasingly become sites where racial hostility is not only expressed but normalized and collectively sustained through user interaction. This study examines how users respond to and engage with curated content depicting racial outgroups as societal threats on X (formerly Twitter), a platform where openly racially hostile accounts have proliferated significantly following relaxed content moderation practices since 2022. Analyzing comment discourse from two such accounts, one White-oriented and one Black-oriented, this study offers a novel comparative lens by examining two racially distinct groups occupying unequal structural and historical positions simultaneously. This study applies Social Identity Theory, Blumer's group position theory, and Northrup's model of intractable conflict to interpret emergent patterns of racial hostility, dehumanization, and identity-based conflict across both spaces. Findings reveal five patterns of hostile discourse in the White-oriented account and six in the Black-oriented account, with notable asymmetries in outgroup presence, tone, and modes of engagement between the two spaces. These findings contribute to scholarship on racial polarization and the normalization of racial hostility in online spaces, while highlighting the need for greater platform accountability in moderating racially hostile content.