Hate speech on Twitter goes up during extreme temperatures, study finds

Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech
·2 min read

Story at a glance

  • A new study published in The Lancet Planetary Health found that hate speech on Twitter goes up by 22 percent when temperatures exceed 42 degrees Celsius, or 107.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

  • There is no universal definition of hate speech, but the United Nations summarizes it as any speech, writing or behavior that attacks, pejorative or discriminatory language in reference to a person or group based on “religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender or other identity factor.”

  • The increase in hate speech occurred in people living in all environmental zones regardless of class, political affiliation or religious belief, researchers found.

Hate speech on Twitter goes up during periods of extreme temperatures, according to a new study.

Researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany found that when temperatures surpassed 107 degrees Fahrenheit the use of racist, homophobic and misogynistic tweets increased by 22 percent compared to periods of moderate temperatures.

Researchers also discovered a 12 percent uptick in Twitter hate speech when temperatures dipped below 26 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Hate tweets were the lowest during moderate temperatures, between about 53 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, researchers added.

“Our results highlight hate speech online as a potential channel through which temperature alters interpersonal conflict and social aggression,” authors of the study wrote.

Researchers used machine-learning algorithms to sift through over 4 billion geolocated tweets spanning from May 1, 2014 to May 1, 2020. Out of that massive sample, study crafters found 75 million hate tweets from 773 U.S. cities.

Overall, researchers noticed a higher frequency of hate speech in places where maximum daily temperatures were higher than 86 degrees Fahrenheit across all climate zones, regardless of class, political affiliation or religious belief.

This general response to temperatures suggest that people have limits when it comes to adapting to extreme temperatures, researchers argue.

“The results presented in this study highlight the importance of climate change mitigation and adaptation against temperature extremes and the need to effectively combat hate speech online,” study authors wrote.

Studies suggest that aggressive behavior online is increasing in general. One study found that hate speech online increased by 20 percent in the United States and United Kingdom during the pandemic.

A 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that 41 percent of Americans have experienced some form of online harassment ranging from stalking, physical threats or name calling.

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