Rutgers University’s report on Hinduphobia unmasks Iran’s web networks using Telegram to disseminate anti-Hindu memes.
Researchers from Rutgers University-New Brunswick’s Network Contagion Lab published a report on the growth of anti-Hindu sentiment on social media platforms. In their latest report, US researchers found a massive surge in hate speech over the past several years.
The report titled – “Anti-Hindu Disinformation: A Case Study Of Hinduphobia on Social Media” expressed the enlarged spread of hate speech against Hindus on numerous social media platforms.
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Evidence reported that not all hinduphobic comments are coming from Pakistan. There are state-sponsored information operations from Iran and other countries.
Multiple actors, white racists, and extremists are widely disseminating genocidal Pepe memes on Telegram and other similar platforms, inciting anti-Hinduism within Islamist online networks.
In January 2022, India asked the United Nations to recognize the hate speech symbols against Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism.
The Rutgers researchers used artificial intelligence to go through more than one million tweets. They discovered that Iranian trolls had been spreading false information against Hindus on several occasions.
The trollers claimed that Hindus were solely responsible for the genocide of Indian minorities.
Intriguingly, the identical misinformation about the Hindu population in India is being promoted in western nations.
John J. Farmer Jr., director of Miller Centre and Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, noted that there is nothing new about the bigotry, and the verbal and physical violence faced by the Hindus.
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“What is new is the social media context in which hate messages are being shared. Our prior work has shown a correlation between the intensity of hate messaging over social media and the eruption of real-world acts of violence,” said John J.
Due to the rising religious tensions in India and the killing of an Indian shopkeeper, the single anti-hindu code phrases and memes hit record highs in July and may spark real-world violence.
According to a news release from the University, social media platforms are mainly ignorant of the code phrases, crucial images, and structured nature of this hatred even though it is on the rise.
The research seeks to serve as a timely warning before hate speech turns into real-world violence. The beginning of this study could perhaps, lead to exploring religious sentiments in schools, academic reports, and movies.
