Influencers and hate messages: young people and consumption of self-censored content

Authors

Keywords:

Influencers, hate messages, youth, social networks, self-censorship, freedom of expression

Abstract

Although hate messages are nothing new, today they resurface with more vigor than ever. The intensity with which they spread can undoubtedly be largely attributed to social media. One of the most recent phenomena to emerge from these platforms are those known as “influencers”, people with the ability to influence and even modify opinions, mainly among younger audiences. They are also one of the main recipients of hate messages on the Internet. What consequences does this have on the content they generate? The present research aims to detect the reaction of the main influencers in Spain to the hate messages they receive and to study the perception of these reactions by young people who follow them. For this, the methodological triangulation made up of the participant observation, discussion group and survey tools has been used. The results show that some influencers self-censor their content to avoid receiving hateful messages. Young people are aware of self-censorship and, although they believe that there are opinions that deserve it, they see negatively the “spiral of silence” effect that this has generated on social networks.

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Author Biography

Lizette Martínez Valerio, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

Tras cursar estudios de Periodismo en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, dedica los primeros años como licenciada al ejercicio de la profesión en Marketingdirecto.com. En 2009 comienza los estudios de doctorado y en abril de 2011 obtiene la beca pre doctoral de la UCM dentro del Departamento de Historia de la Comunicación Social. A lo largo de los cuatro años de duración de la beca sus áreas de especialización giraron en torno a dos ejes: redes sociales online (tema de su tesis doctoral) e historia de la programación televisiva española. Se doctora Cum Laude en junio de 2015.  

Ha complementado su formación investigadora con el curso de posgrado “Formación de especialistas en investigación social aplicada y análisis de datos” del Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) y realizando estancias en el CRIMIC de la Universidad París IV – Sorbonne y en el Centro Avanzado de Comunicación Eulalio Ferrer en la Ciudad de México. En febrero de 2016 se incorpora como profesora a la Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (UNIR) y en septiembre de 2019 a la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Está acreditada por la ANECA con la figura de Contratado Doctor.   

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Published

2021-07-30

How to Cite

Martínez Valerio, L., & Mayagoitia Soria, A. M. (2021). Influencers and hate messages: young people and consumption of self-censored content. Revista Prisma Social, (34), 4–39. Retrieved from https://revistaprismasocial.es/article/view/4343