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<p>Online intergroup hostility is a pervasive and troubling issue, yet experimental evidence on how to curb it remains scarce. This study examines counterspeech as a user-driven strategy to reduce hate speech. Drawing on theories that suggest adopting the perspective of minority groups can reduce prejudice, we randomized four counterspeech strategies across the senders of 2102 xenophobic Twitter messages. Compared to a passive control group, we find that the pooled effect of the three perspective-centered strategies—traditional perspective-taking, analogical perspective-taking, and perspective getting—increased the likelihood that the sender deleted their xenophobic message by +0.14 SD (<InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <InlineMediaObject> <ImageObject Color="BlackWhite" FileRef="41598_2025_5041_Article_IEq1.gif" Format="GIF" Height="16" Rendition="HTML" Resolution="72" Type="Linedraw" Width="69" /> </InlineMediaObject> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(p=0.003\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>), decreased the number of likes the xenophobic message received by others (− 0.133 SD, <InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <InlineMediaObject> <ImageObject Color="BlackWhite" FileRef="41598_2025_5041_Article_IEq2.gif" Format="GIF" Height="16" Rendition="HTML" Resolution="72" Type="Linedraw" Width="69" /> </InlineMediaObject> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(p=0.040\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>), but yielded a limited and not statistically significant estimate for the share of xenophobic messages the sender posted over the following four weeks (− 0.084 SD, <InlineEquation ID="IEq3"> <InlineMediaObject> <ImageObject Color="BlackWhite" FileRef="41598_2025_5041_Article_IEq3.gif" Format="GIF" Height="16" Rendition="HTML" Resolution="72" Type="Linedraw" Width="69" /> </InlineMediaObject> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(p=0.178\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>). Differences between the three perspective-centered strategies were generally small and not statistically significant, though analogical perspective-taking—encouraging senders to compare their own experiences of being attacked online with their discriminatory behavior toward outgroups—appears to have slightly larger effects across multiple outcomes. Disapproval messages without a perspective shift produced smaller and non-significant estimates. These findings advance our theoretical understanding of how counterspeech works and provide actionable insights for how users can contribute to reducing intergroup hostility and its amplification online—especially at a time when many platforms are scaling back content moderation.</p>

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Counterspeech encouraging users to adopt the perspective of minority groups reduces hate speech and its amplification on social media

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年7月1日

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  • Gloria Gennaro,
  • Laurenz Derksen,
  • Aya Abdelrahman,
  • Emma Broggini,
  • Mariya Alexandra Green,
  • Victoria Andrea Haerter,
  • Elia Heer,
  • Isabel Heidler,
  • Fiona Kauer,
  • Han-Nuri Kim,
  • Benjamin Landry,
  • Alessio Levis,
  • Jiazhen Li,
  • Şevval Şimşir,
  • Iva Srbinovska,
  • Robin Anna Vital,
  • Karsten Donnay,
  • Fabrizio Gilardi,
  • Dominik Hangartner

摘要

Online intergroup hostility is a pervasive and troubling issue, yet experimental evidence on how to curb it remains scarce. This study examines counterspeech as a user-driven strategy to reduce hate speech. Drawing on theories that suggest adopting the perspective of minority groups can reduce prejudice, we randomized four counterspeech strategies across the senders of 2102 xenophobic Twitter messages. Compared to a passive control group, we find that the pooled effect of the three perspective-centered strategies—traditional perspective-taking, analogical perspective-taking, and perspective getting—increased the likelihood that the sender deleted their xenophobic message by +0.14 SD ( \(p=0.003\) ), decreased the number of likes the xenophobic message received by others (− 0.133 SD, \(p=0.040\) ), but yielded a limited and not statistically significant estimate for the share of xenophobic messages the sender posted over the following four weeks (− 0.084 SD, \(p=0.178\) ). Differences between the three perspective-centered strategies were generally small and not statistically significant, though analogical perspective-taking—encouraging senders to compare their own experiences of being attacked online with their discriminatory behavior toward outgroups—appears to have slightly larger effects across multiple outcomes. Disapproval messages without a perspective shift produced smaller and non-significant estimates. These findings advance our theoretical understanding of how counterspeech works and provide actionable insights for how users can contribute to reducing intergroup hostility and its amplification online—especially at a time when many platforms are scaling back content moderation.