Rethinking Hate Speech and Cyberhate Concepts: The Case of Smear Campaigns Against Judges in Poland

The press and whistleblowers have reported that in Poland, not long ago (around 2018–2019), there was a special “taskforce”, headed by a senior officer in the Ministry of Justice, that was formed solely to spread defamatory comments about judges who disapproved of the new judicial reforms. Although certain legal proceedings (including cases initiated by the targeted judges themselves) are still pending, this set of circumstances nevertheless presents an excellent starting point for exploration of activities initiated and conducted by public officials in order to discredit a particular occupational group. This article aims at (a) providing a glimpse into the literature on hate speech and cyberhate, (b) outlining the general context of the conducted attacks, (c) identifying key features of the derogatory narrative presented in the @KastaWatch Twitter (now X) account and on the rightwing wPolityce.pl portal, (d) examining whether the speech acts comprising this narrative fit the schemes associated with the hate speech and cyberhate concepts, and (e) postulating lessons about democracies that can be derived from this particular case.