This paper examines cross-national commonalities and differences in online hate speech content, exposure, and emotional reaction. Using online surveys from 18 to 25-year-old respondents in six countries, we find a majority of respondents were exposed to online hate in the preceding 3 months. Commonalities across countries are the platform where the respondents were exposed and how they arrived at such content. Unique national cultures of hate speech also exist, including the common targets and respondents’ emotional reactions. A majority of respondents report feeling angry, sad, or ashamed, but most worrisome may be the substantial numbers who report feelings of hatred or pride after seeing online hate. Given the potential for repeated exposure and the recent increase in hate crimes in the US. and Europe, this finding should serve as a reminder of the dangers of online hate and its potential link to offline violence.

The Internet, specifically social media, is among the most common settings where young people encounter hate speech. Understanding their attitudes toward the phenomenon is crucial for combatting it because acceptance of such content could contribute to furthering the spread of hate speech as well as ideology contamination. The present study, theoretically grounded in the General Aggression Model (GAM), investigates factors associated with online hate acceptance among young adults. We collected survey data from participants aged 18–26 from six countries: Finland (n = 483), France (n = 907), Poland (n = 738), Spain (n = 739), the United Kingdom (n = 959), and the United States (n = 1052). Results based on linear regression modeling showed that acceptance of online hate was strongly associated with acceptance of violence in all samples. In addition, participants who admitted to producing online hate reported higher levels of acceptance of it. Moreover, association with social dominance orientation was found in most of the samples. Other sample-specific significant factors included participants’ experiences with the Internet and online hate, as well as empathy and institutional trust levels. Significant differences in online hate acceptance levels and the strength of its connections to individual factors were found between the countries. These results provide important insights into the phenomenon, demonstrating that online hate acceptance is part of a larger belief system and is influenced by cultural background, and, therefore, it cannot be analyzed or combatted in isolation from these factors.

Public opinion polls frequently demonstrate that the American debate on reparations for slavery falls along racial lines. However, less attention has been paid to how social psychological factors such as views of deservingness mediate that relationship. This manuscript highlights how identity, deservingness, and views of justice affect attitudes about symbolic reparations—a step that many believe is necessary to achieve closure and pave a path for racial equality. Using survey data from an opt-in sample, we demonstrate how both in-group pride and myths of undeservingness of Black Americans function through racial identity to uniquely affect a respondent’s understanding of the lasting harms of slavery. Increases in pride result in opposition to symbolic reparations among white Americans, but they lead to support among Black Americans and Latinx Americans. Racial/ethnic pride has no impact on support for such reparations among Asian Americans. We find that agreement with myths of Black Americans’ undeservingness largely explains the effect of pride among white Americans but not among racialized minority groups, and we argue that this is largely due to the socio- historical context of their identities. We conclude by discussing the implications this has for reparations as a form of justice 155 years after formal slavery ended in the United States.