Online Expressions Related to Muslim Identity and Islam: A Longitudinal Event Based Analysis

The use of AI to detect online hate speech on social media has gathered pace, however, automatic detection in itself does not allow for sociological insight. Although previous research has addressed the online propagation of cyberhate following trigger events, little is known about the longitudinal diffusion (e.g. years instead of days) of posts relating to Muslim identity. This limitation means we do not know if findings from cross-sectional research are generalisable across time, locations and events. This study aims to identify: i) how, when and where Muslim identity is being discussed on Twitter over 12- month period; ii) how Muslim identity is constructed; and iii) what social, content and temporal factors influence the production of anti-Muslim cyberhate. The student will be associated with the Labs and the existing PhD students conducting research on similar topics. The student will become involved in Lab based workshops and conferences, and will be encouraged to co-author journal articles with other students and staff.