Hate Messages Against the LGBTQ+ Population Continue Unabated on Social Media
Hate messages directed at the LGBTQ+ collective have gained ground over those promoting support and celebration of their rights. While the former has seen an alarming growth of nearly 9.4%, the latter has experienced a decline of over 40% in the past four years.
The Woman Post | Ayda María Martínez Ipuz
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These findings were revealed in the report "Hate Speech and LGBTQ+ Pride in Digital Conversations," recently presented by Llorente y Cuenca (LLYC) on the occasion of International LGBTQ+ Pride Day.
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The study, conducted using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence techniques to analyze over 169 million social media posts in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Spain, and Portugal, found that Ecuador, Chile, and Peru had the highest frequency of attack and hate messages against LGBTQ+ individuals.
Brazil, Panama, Spain, Colombia, and Argentina fell within the middle range, while countries such as Portugal, Mexico, and the United States recorded the lowest number of attacks against this community on social media.
Replacing Hate with Poetry
Concurrently, the consultancy firm LLYC has launched the campaign "Rainbot," which aims to foster conversations of pride and positivity surrounding the LGBTQ+ community. It introduces the first-ever bot that transforms hate-filled tweets towards the LGBTQ+ collective into short love poems that celebrate diversity.
Developed by LLYC's creative and Deep Digital teams, the bot supports the discourse of LGBTQ+ pride in opposition to hate, raising awareness of the danger posed to this community by amplifying these derogatory messages.
Rainbot identifies tweets containing hate speech directed at the LGBTQ+ community and, utilizing generative AI, detects hurtful words and transforms them into brief poems supporting the collective. These poems are then shared to spread the message further.
"We are concerned about the growth of hate speech and the metaphorical 'return to the digital closet' in conversations that should celebrate the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. That is why, at LLYC, we have launched the 'Rainbot' campaign, which aims to draw attention to the issue of increasing hateful messages while actively working to reduce them on social media platforms. Through the creative use of the latest technologies, we aim to transform hate into love, celebration, and support. Companies and brands have a clear role to play in this matter that goes far beyond Pride," said David González Natal, Partner at LLYC and leader of the report and campaign.
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An Example of Commitment
The firm strives to become an example of commitment to the LGBTQ+ community and has been proactively engaging in diversity initiatives, including raising awareness about biases, implementing inclusive policies, and showcasing the stance of its leaders.
Last year, LLYC released the report "Companies and LGBTQ+ Diversity in Digital Conversations," which analyzed 77.9 million messages from the top 25 companies and their CEOs with the highest number of Twitter followers in each market. The objective was to understand these companies' positions on LGBTQ+ diversity-related issues