Political hostility is on the rise. The increasing polarisation in the political landscape stands hand in hand with political disengagement and apathy of third parties, and presents a challenge to our democratic institutions.
This growing hostility couldn't be more palpable than on the web. Scrolling on your favourite social media platform, you probably run into some hate speech from time to time. How do you typically react in these situations? While research within political science has focused on the hostility and explored how politically hostile behaviour develops, much less attention is given to bystanders and the potential of pro-social bystander reactions to mitigate the negative impact of online political hostility.
So this week, we have invited Lasse Lindekilde (Political Science at Aarhus University) & Simon Karg (Political Science at Aarhus University & Interacting Minds Centre) from the STANDBY project to discuss how their research focuses on reactions of bystanders when exposed to online political hostility.
Through an array of mixed methods, this project aims at studying the behaviour of bystanders on various social media platforms. How do we react when we encounter online hostility targeted at others? What makes an UPstander and what motivates them? What role plays the platform's incentives in managing hate speech?
To learn more about STANDBY, its team, their research, and resources mentioned in the episode, visit the Show Notes on our website.