Analyzing Hate Speech with Incel-Hunters’ Critiques
Yisi Sang, Jeffrey M. Stanton · 2020
The ubiquity of online media services helps to promote free speech but also provides opportunities for the spread of problematic content such as hate speech. A group of individuals known as “incels” (involuntary celibates) sometimes use online media services to publish hateful content. To expose and condemn incel hate speech, other individuals, sometimes called “incel hunters” create online communities where they critique screenshots of content posted by incels. In this paper, using 18,187 posts collected from a subreddit named r/IncelTears, we explore the potential for transforming screenshots of incel hate speech and oppositional statements into training data that could be used as the basis for automated or semi-automated content moderation tools.