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USE OF CYBER HATE IN THE ELECTORAL CAMPAIGNS BY THE MAINSTREAM POLITICAL PARTIES OF PAKISTAN
Corresponding Author(s) : Ayesha Siddiqua
Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews,
Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021): March
Abstract
Purpose of the study: The purpose of the study is to examine the use of cyber hate by the Pakistan’s mainstream political parties. The issue of poll rigging in Pakistan’s General Elections 2013 is examined through discourse analysis of the related tweets. The study also aims at comprehending the extent to which cyber ethics were violated during the digital electoral campaigns.
Methodology: Discourse Analysis of the tweets generated from the official Twitter handles of PTI and PMLN leaders was conducted to examine the use of cyber hate by the Pakistan’s mainstream political parties. Violation of cyber ethics was explored through the qualitative interviews of 8 purposively selected social media managers of PMLN, PPP, and PTI.
Main Findings: The findings indicated that party leadership/politicians used the elements of cyber hate which included abusive language, provocation, and character assassination against their opponents during the digital electoral campaign in general and regarding the poll rigging issue of Pakistan’s General Elections 2013 in specific. Resultantly the tweets using strong adjectives and metaphors on the political opponents were more frequently re-tweeted and attracted more favorites.
Applications of this study: The study can be helpful in various cross-disciplinary areas that focus on the examination of the usage and impact of social media and cyberspace as a medium for hate speech dissemination. The study can significantly contribute to areas related to cyber ethics, digital electoral campaigning, freedom of expression, and political opinion building.
Novelty/Originality of this study: The study’s originality lies in its attempt to unfold the foundations of digital electoral campaigning in Pakistan and how cyberhate was used as a pivotal tool for advancing the political narratives in a fragile democratic society.
Keywords
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- Ahmed, S., Jaidka, K., & Skoric, M. M. (2016, March). Tweets and votes: A four-country comparison of volumetric and sentiment analysis approaches. In Tenth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media.
- Becker, B. & Wehner, J. (1998). Electronic media and civil society. In C. Ess & F. Sudweeks (eds), Proceedings of Cultural Attitudes Towards Technology and Communication Conference. Australia: University of Sydney. Available at http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks/catac98/pdf/04_becker.pdf
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- Boyd, D. (2008). Can social networking sites enable political action? International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, 4(2), 241-244. https://doi.org/10.1386/macp.4.2.241_3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/macp.4.2.241_3
- Brodock, K., Joyce, M., & Zaeck, T. (2009). Digital Activism Survey Report 2009. Retrieved from http://www.digi active.org/wp-content/uploads/Research4_SurveyReport2009.pdf
- Castells, M. (2009). Communication Power. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Castells, M. (2000). The rise of the Network Society. The information age: economy, society and culture, 1(2). Malden: Blackwell.
- Dahlberg, L. (2007). Rethinking the fragmentation of the cyber public: from consensus to contestation. New media & society, 9(5), 827-847. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444807081228 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444807081228
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- Duncan, P.K. (2017). The Uses of Hate: On Hate as a Political Category. M/C Journal, 20(1). https://doi.org/10. 5204/mcj.1194 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.1194
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- Eid, M., & Ward, S. (2009). Editorial: Ethics, New Media and Social networks. Global Media Journal- Canadian Edition, 2(1), 1-4.
- Eltis, K. (2011). Hate Speech, Genocide, and Revisiting the Marketplace of Ideas in the Digital Age. Loy. U. Chi. LJ, 43, 267.
- Filimon, L.M. (2016). Politics and Magical Thinking: How Falsehoods, Show man ship and Hawkishness Became Trademarks of Republican Presidential Electoral Campaign. British and American Studies, 22, 211–226.
- Foxman, A. H., & Wolf, C. (2013). Viral hate: Containing its spread on the Internet. Macmillan.
- Garea, F., & Medina, M. A. (2014). Spanish government asks state attorney to crack down on Twitter hate speech. El PaÃs, 20.
- Gladwell, M. (2010, October 4). Small change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-changeMalcolm-Gladwell
- Guynn, J. (2016). Massive rise’ in hate speech on Twitter during the presidential election. USA Today. Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/10/21/massive-risein-hate-speechTwitter-during-presidential-election-donald-trump/92486210/
- Harlow, S., & Harp, D. (2011). Collective action on the Web: A cross-cultural study of social networking sites and online and offline activism in the United States and Latin America. Information, Communication and Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2011.591411 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2011.591411
- Herz, M., & Peter, M. (2012). The Content and Context of Hate Speech. Rethinking Regulation and Responses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139042871 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139042871
- Java, A., Finnin, T., Song, X., & Tseng, B. (2007). Why we Twitter: understanding microblogging usage and communities. In Proceedings of the 9th Web KDD and 1st SNA KDD2007 Workshop on Web Mining and Social Network Analysis, 56-65. San Jose, California. https://doi.org/10.1145/1348549.1348556 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1348549.1348556
- Jurgenson, N. (2011). Welcome to the augmented revolution. Salon. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/2011/11/ 06/the_21st_centurys_augmented_revolution/singleton
- Kaura, V. (2020). Pakistani Politics at a Crossroads: The new opposition to Imran Khan and to the military establishment. MEI. Retrieved from https://www.mei.edu/publications/pakistani-politics-crossroads-new-opposi tion-imrankhan-and-military-establishment
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- Kvale, S. (1996). The 1,000-page question. Qualitative inquiry, 2(3), 275-284. https://doi.org/10.1177/107 780049600200302 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/107780049600200302
- Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (2001). Hegemony and Social Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics (2nd ed.), p.335. London: Verso.
- Lashari, M. B. A., & Mirza, J. A. (2013). Pakistan Elections 2013. Pakistan Horizon, 66(3), 79 98.
- Long, T., Roderick. (1998). Toward a Libertarian Theory of Class. Social Philosophy and Policy, 15(2), 303-349. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052500002028 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052500002028
- McChesney, R. (1996). The Internet and U.S. communication policy-making in historical and critical perspective: Symposium: The Net. Journal of Communication, 46(1), 98-124. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.199 6.tb01463.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1996.tb01463.x
- Perry, B., & Olsson, P. (2009). Cyberhate: The Globalization of Hate. Information and Communications Technology and Law, 18(2), 185-199. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600830902814984 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13600830902814984
- Rao, M. F. (2020). Hate Speech and Media Information Literacy in the Digital Age: A Case Study of 2018 Elections in Pakistan. Global Media Journal, 18(34), 1-10.
- Rohlinger, D., A., & Brown, J. (2009). Democracy, action and the Internet after 9/11. American Behavioural Scientist, 53(1), 133-150. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764209338791 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764209338791
- Simon Wiesenthal Centre annual Digital Terrorism and Hate Report. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=44414&ct=9141065#.VgfTcfmqqko
- Wiesenthal, S., & Corner, T. (2008). Wiesenthal Library and Archives. Los Angeles. Retrieved from http://www.wiesenthal.com/atf/cf/%7BDFD2AAC1-2ADE-428A-926335234229D8D8%7D/IREPORT.PDF
- Walker, H. (2015). Donald Trump just released an epic statement raging against Mexican immigrants and ’disease. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-epic-statement-on-mexico-2015-7
- Wu, X., & Ali, S. (2020). The Novel Changes in Pakistan’s Party Politics: Analysis of Causes and Impacts. Chinese Political Science Review, 5(4), 513-533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41111-020-00156-z DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41111-020-00156-z
References
Ahmed, S., Jaidka, K., & Skoric, M. M. (2016, March). Tweets and votes: A four-country comparison of volumetric and sentiment analysis approaches. In Tenth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media.
Becker, B. & Wehner, J. (1998). Electronic media and civil society. In C. Ess & F. Sudweeks (eds), Proceedings of Cultural Attitudes Towards Technology and Communication Conference. Australia: University of Sydney. Available at http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks/catac98/pdf/04_becker.pdf
Berelson, B. (1954). Content analysis. Handbook of social psychology, 1, 488-522.
Boyd, D. (2008). Can social networking sites enable political action? International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, 4(2), 241-244. https://doi.org/10.1386/macp.4.2.241_3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/macp.4.2.241_3
Brodock, K., Joyce, M., & Zaeck, T. (2009). Digital Activism Survey Report 2009. Retrieved from http://www.digi active.org/wp-content/uploads/Research4_SurveyReport2009.pdf
Castells, M. (2009). Communication Power. New York: Oxford University Press.
Castells, M. (2000). The rise of the Network Society. The information age: economy, society and culture, 1(2). Malden: Blackwell.
Dahlberg, L. (2007). Rethinking the fragmentation of the cyber public: from consensus to contestation. New media & society, 9(5), 827-847. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444807081228 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444807081228
Dijk, Van. (2001). The One-dimensional Network Society of Manuel Castells. Chronicle World. Retrieved from http://www.chronicleworld.org/archive/castells.htm
Duncan, P.K. (2017). The Uses of Hate: On Hate as a Political Category. M/C Journal, 20(1). https://doi.org/10. 5204/mcj.1194 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.1194
Iran’s Twitter Revolution. (2009). Washington Times. Retrieved from http://www.washingtontimes.c om/news.2009/june/16/irans-twitter-revolution
Eid, M., & Ward, S. (2009). Editorial: Ethics, New Media and Social networks. Global Media Journal- Canadian Edition, 2(1), 1-4.
Eltis, K. (2011). Hate Speech, Genocide, and Revisiting the Marketplace of Ideas in the Digital Age. Loy. U. Chi. LJ, 43, 267.
Filimon, L.M. (2016). Politics and Magical Thinking: How Falsehoods, Show man ship and Hawkishness Became Trademarks of Republican Presidential Electoral Campaign. British and American Studies, 22, 211–226.
Foxman, A. H., & Wolf, C. (2013). Viral hate: Containing its spread on the Internet. Macmillan.
Garea, F., & Medina, M. A. (2014). Spanish government asks state attorney to crack down on Twitter hate speech. El PaÃs, 20.
Gladwell, M. (2010, October 4). Small change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-changeMalcolm-Gladwell
Guynn, J. (2016). Massive rise’ in hate speech on Twitter during the presidential election. USA Today. Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/10/21/massive-risein-hate-speechTwitter-during-presidential-election-donald-trump/92486210/
Harlow, S., & Harp, D. (2011). Collective action on the Web: A cross-cultural study of social networking sites and online and offline activism in the United States and Latin America. Information, Communication and Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2011.591411 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2011.591411
Herz, M., & Peter, M. (2012). The Content and Context of Hate Speech. Rethinking Regulation and Responses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139042871 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139042871
Java, A., Finnin, T., Song, X., & Tseng, B. (2007). Why we Twitter: understanding microblogging usage and communities. In Proceedings of the 9th Web KDD and 1st SNA KDD2007 Workshop on Web Mining and Social Network Analysis, 56-65. San Jose, California. https://doi.org/10.1145/1348549.1348556 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1348549.1348556
Jurgenson, N. (2011). Welcome to the augmented revolution. Salon. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/2011/11/ 06/the_21st_centurys_augmented_revolution/singleton
Kaura, V. (2020). Pakistani Politics at a Crossroads: The new opposition to Imran Khan and to the military establishment. MEI. Retrieved from https://www.mei.edu/publications/pakistani-politics-crossroads-new-opposi tion-imrankhan-and-military-establishment
Kurtz, Paul. (1982). Libertarianism as the Philosophy of Moral Freedom. Modern Age, 153-159. Retrieved from http://www.unz.org/Pub/ModernAge-1982q2-00153?View=PDF
Kvale, S. (1996). The 1,000-page question. Qualitative inquiry, 2(3), 275-284. https://doi.org/10.1177/107 780049600200302 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/107780049600200302
Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (2001). Hegemony and Social Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics (2nd ed.), p.335. London: Verso.
Lashari, M. B. A., & Mirza, J. A. (2013). Pakistan Elections 2013. Pakistan Horizon, 66(3), 79 98.
Long, T., Roderick. (1998). Toward a Libertarian Theory of Class. Social Philosophy and Policy, 15(2), 303-349. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052500002028 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052500002028
McChesney, R. (1996). The Internet and U.S. communication policy-making in historical and critical perspective: Symposium: The Net. Journal of Communication, 46(1), 98-124. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.199 6.tb01463.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1996.tb01463.x
Perry, B., & Olsson, P. (2009). Cyberhate: The Globalization of Hate. Information and Communications Technology and Law, 18(2), 185-199. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600830902814984 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13600830902814984
Rao, M. F. (2020). Hate Speech and Media Information Literacy in the Digital Age: A Case Study of 2018 Elections in Pakistan. Global Media Journal, 18(34), 1-10.
Rohlinger, D., A., & Brown, J. (2009). Democracy, action and the Internet after 9/11. American Behavioural Scientist, 53(1), 133-150. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764209338791 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764209338791
Simon Wiesenthal Centre annual Digital Terrorism and Hate Report. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=44414&ct=9141065#.VgfTcfmqqko
Wiesenthal, S., & Corner, T. (2008). Wiesenthal Library and Archives. Los Angeles. Retrieved from http://www.wiesenthal.com/atf/cf/%7BDFD2AAC1-2ADE-428A-926335234229D8D8%7D/IREPORT.PDF
Walker, H. (2015). Donald Trump just released an epic statement raging against Mexican immigrants and ’disease. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-epic-statement-on-mexico-2015-7
Wu, X., & Ali, S. (2020). The Novel Changes in Pakistan’s Party Politics: Analysis of Causes and Impacts. Chinese Political Science Review, 5(4), 513-533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41111-020-00156-z DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41111-020-00156-z