Cyberhate and Climate Change: Examining Online Hate Speech Targeting Climate Beliefs

• In Event: 50620 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11: Environmental Spaces, Places, and Beliefs

Abstract

As the climate crisis worsens and the political debate around climate change becomes increasingly polarized, activists such as Greta Thunberg have reported being subjected to hate speech both offline and online. However, little is known about broader experiences with climate change-related hate speech. Our study aims to (1) measure the prevalence of viewing climate change-related hate speech online and (2) analyze demographic and attitudinal factors that influence whether someone has been targeted for climate change-related hate speech. Our study uses data from online surveys of residents in the U.S. and Finland collected in 2024. Preliminary results show that 11.8 percent of respondents who reported viewing online hate speech saw hate speech related to someone’s views on global warming—which ranked near the lowest of nine topical categories respondents could select. However, 24.9 percent of respondents reported being targeted for online hate speech related to their views on global warming at least once – which ranked the second highest in topical categories behind politics. Logistic regression results show that (1) men, (2) younger respondents, and (3) respondents who view global warming as more important are significantly more likely to report being targeted at least once for their views on global warming. We discuss the implications of these findings for the climate justice movement.

Authors

• Pierce Greenberg, Clemson University

• Matthew Costello, Clemson University