A study in prejudice - Racist stereotypes in digital environments

In this report, manifestations of racism in digital environments are studied, mainly expressions of prejudice against some of the minority groups that have, in the Swedish government's Plan against racism, similar kinds of hostility, and hate crime, been indicated as particularly exposed to racism. In a sample of Reddit posts mentioning ethnic minorities from January to July 2022, 16% contain prejudice against ethnic minorities and a further 3% expressed other negative attitudes towards ethnic minorities. Most of the prejudicial statements expressed variations of the idea that certain groups, by different means, create disorder and unrest, have undemocratic or outdated values, are difficult to integrate, or choose crime or social security before work as a means of financial sustenance. Our study shows that people of Middle Eastern and North African descent are particularly exposed to prejudice, as are Muslims. Prejudicial statements often displayed ignorance and conflation of different ethnic and religious minorities. Since the study was conducted during spring 2022, we have tested the results against current affairs during the same period. The result indicates that a substantial increase of islamophobic expressions coincided with the so-called 2022 Sweden riots.