#ContestingIslamophobia: Representation and Appropriation in Mediated Activism.

This project examines the dynamics of anti- and pro-Muslim online activism. Using Twitter # campaigns as its starting point we focus on the appropriation of global 'trigger' events, such as terror attacks, by right wing US activists to create anti-Muslim narratives, and how these narratives are in turn opposed by anti-racist groups. We firstly examine the actors and interactions that enable particular narratives to gain dominance. We then analyse mainstream media depictions of these narratives to assess the conditions under which certain stories gain wider publicity. Finally, we situate these campaigns by analysing the websites of significant activists and interviewing key stakeholders such as journalists and opinion leaders circulating the discourse. By analysing the dynamics of these narratives we aim to develop a better understanding of how hate speech gains visibility and identify key difficulties and useful strategies for contesting hate speech.
The background to this project is the growth of hate speech, particularly on social media, in a context where politics has become more divisive. In the UK and US, there has been a significant rise in the reporting of incidences of hate crime post-Brexit and the US presidential election; Muslims have been especially targeted (TellMama 2018). Research shows that in mainstream media the representation of Muslims is predominantly negative (Poole 2016), whilst some forms of digital media can offer minority groups a space for self-representation. This positive perception of digital media has more recently been undermined by the growth of echo chambers, disinformation, trolling and hate speech. The outcome of negative media rhetoric (traditional and online) was starkly illustrated by a far right attack on Muslims in New Zealand, 2019. This project, therefore, speaks to growing concerns about the ways that white nationalist politics are sustained through activists' use of a range of media forms but also how relationships between these media have led to extreme right media content migrating from the margins in ways that enable Islamophobic rhetoric to be reproduced as 'common sense'.
While far-right activists have used social media hashtags to propagate their agendas, these platforms have also offered opportunities for anti-racist campaigners to re-appropriate and challenge racist discourse. However, these online debates often consist of a messy 'to and fro', with counter-narratives in turn 'hijacked' by the far-right, which compounds the difficulty of challenging hate speech. Our project aims to understand the potentials and limitations of countering hate speech in this environment, by investigating the discourses of both anti-Muslim and anti-racist activists on Twitter following three significant events: An Islamist terror attack, a far-right attack and Britain's exit from the EU. As well as exploring the entanglement of these narratives, and the ways that they both silence and sustain each other, we examine their transnational dynamics and the tactics used by activist groups, with particular attention to the instrumental appropriation of global events. This analysis is then broadened to explore the conditions by which these narratives gain visibility in mainstream media, how and when alternative voices are able to intervene, or if xenophobic discourse achieves greater prominence. This content analysis, gathered through a combination of big data and manual methods, will be supported by qualitative interviews with key actors in these media events to examine their approaches to and role in disseminating content. In identifying any successful strategies, we aim to advise anti-racist activist groups of techniques to increase the visibility of their messages whilst providing them with the methods and tools to engage in follow-on work. We will also offer advice to social media companies in dealing with online hate speech that often falls outside their guidelines on extremism.

Research Beneficiaries
The proposed research has the potential to benefit advocacy/activist groups, academics, policymakers and practitioners including:
Organisations engaged in anti-racist advocacy, including advisory group members Tell Mama (hate crime project group) and MEND (Muslims Engagement and Development Group) and their service users
Government level: relevant APPGs British Muslims and Hate Crime; the Anti-Muslim hatred working group (UK Department for Communities and Local Government)
Industry (social media) policymakers and their representatives, e.g., ISPA (Internet Service Providers Association)
Minority community groups accessed through the Muslim Council of Britain
Journalists
Regulators (eg., Ofcom or the proposed new Internet regulator, Online Harms White Paper, 2019)
Wider civil society
Impacts
1. AI (artificial intelligence) benefits: we will develop digital tools that will enable the analysis of social media data for follow on use. Activist groups will be involved from the outset to inform the project team of any research questions that may concern them. The machine learning techniques we develop may also be of interest to social media companies who currently rely heavily on manual labour to moderate hate speech.
2. Policy benefits: Current social media policy towards hate speech allows for everyday racism to continue under the remits of free speech. Our project will generate significant new data that will inform national policy and practice across a range of organisations in making recommendations to the social media industry on guidelines for monitoring hate speech, and to regulatory bodies or government who have recently responded to the need to navigate the problems posed by hate speech through the publication of the Online Harms White Paper, 2019.
3. Communication benefits: By studying the effective communication strategies of online activists we will advise anti-racist groups on tactics to maximise the visibility and success of their own campaigns. We will also provide recommendations on strategies to respond to and counter hate speech.
Broader Outcomes:
Although not directly measurable, the findings have the capacity for a much broader impact. Any policy change by social media companies could have a significant impact on the well-being of vulnerable minority groups in society. Divisive Islamophobic rhetoric not only affects Muslim communities but has an impact on wider society normalising xenophobic discourse and contributing to bunker mentalities. Positive intervention by activist organisations, on the other hand, could have a significant impact on the well-being of marginalised groups if there is any shift in the kind of discourses circulating about Muslims in non-Muslim majority societies. Feedback on research outcomes will also be disseminated to journalists to encourage responsible reporting to inform better public understandings of Muslims. The potential to change wider discourse was demonstrated by some of the supportive reporting following the New Zealand far-right terror attacks.
Engagement:
1. Project website (hosting 2 and 3, below, as well as analysed datasets and models), regular blog and social media posts
2. Project report, communications advice, usage guides/support materials for non-technical researchers and press releases
3. Digital tools (recommended tools and methods developed during the project)
4. Dissemination event (public-facing with invited figures from industry, government, activist groups)
5. Working with advisory group members to develop an action plan to implement the research's recommendations
6. Interim reports for online publications e.g., Discover Society, The Conversation
Evaluation:
Impact will be evaluated through policy/legislative change, working practices in any associated organizations, website hits, report downloads, demand for digital tools, workshop attendance, feedback from advocacy groups on project impact, media interest