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Citizen preferences for online hate speech regulation
Simon Munzert1, Richard Traunmüller2, Pablo Barberá3
1Data Science Lab, Hertie School, 10017 Berlin, BE, Germany.
PNAS Nexus
|February 21, 2025
Summary
Public preferences on online speech regulation reveal that message severity, not context, drives opinions. While deleting hateful content is favored, extreme sanctions like job loss lack support, even for severe hate speech.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Communication Studies
- Political Science
Background:
- The increasing shift of public discourse to online platforms necessitates a deeper understanding of content moderation and online speech regulation.
- Designing widely accepted regulations requires insight into public preferences regarding online content and its consequences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate public preferences for content moderation policies and sanctions for hateful speech online.
- To examine how message type, severity, and context influence public evaluations of online hate speech.
- To assess the impact of exposure to hateful speech on tolerance for unpopular opinions.
Main Methods:
- A visual vignette study was conducted with German and US citizens.
- Participants were exposed to synthetic social media vignettes depicting various forms of hateful speech.
- Experimental designs were used to measure the impact of exposure to hate speech on tolerance.
Main Results:
- Public evaluations of online speech are primarily influenced by the message type and severity, with contextual factors playing a lesser role.
- Deleting hateful content is a popular measure, but extreme sanctions like job loss receive minimal support, even for severe cases.
- Evidence indicates in-group favoritism among political partisans in evaluating online speech.
- Experimental exposure to hateful speech was found to decrease tolerance for unpopular opinions.
Conclusions:
- Public support for content moderation policies is nuanced, favoring less extreme interventions for hateful speech.
- Political partisanship can influence perceptions of online speech and the appropriateness of sanctions.
- Exposure to online hate speech can have detrimental effects on broader societal tolerance and open discourse.
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