Understanding and dismantling disinformation and hate speech targeting immigrants: A forensic linguistic analysis

• In Event: Media and social construction of crime I

Abstract

In December 2024, the Portuguese police were deployed to Benformoso, a neighbourhood in Lisbon (Portugal) that is home to thousands of immigrants, to dismantle organised criminal activities. During the action, dozens of immigrants were laid against the wall. The televised social event turned out to be a fiasco because very little evidence of petty crimes was found. However, it contributed to the public perception — fuelled by governmental discourse, albeit disproven by official statistics — that immigrants are largely responsible for current national health service and security crises. Periods of crisis are known to cause feelings of uncertainty, panic, and loss of control, and consequently encourage general beliefs in disinformation (van Prooijen & Douglas, 2017). Such beliefs are further amplified by permacrises, the increasing number and frequency of high stakes, interlinked crises (environmental, financial, health, climatic, energy-related and recurrent wars). This paper discusses the impact of the two specific interlinked crises in Portugal — the crisis of the health service and the perceived crisis of lack of security — to investigate the public perceptions of immigration, and how such perceptions have contributed to the dissemination of disinformation and hate speech towards immigrants. The analysis is based on a corpus of mainstream media publications in the social media (and respective users’ comments) between 19 December 2024 (the date of the police action) and 18 January 2025 on issues related to security and to the national health service. A forensic linguistic analysis of the data is conducted to establish the meaning constructed by the users, and the strategies used to produce disinformation and hate speech. The analysis shows how the forensic linguistic analysis can contribute to understand the media and social construction of crime, and ultimately to detect and prevent the spread of hate speech and disinformation.

Authors

• Rui Sousa Silva, CLUP, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto

• Tiago Marques, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto

• Cecília Ortiz, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto