A new study by Daniela Peterka-Benton from the Department of Justice Studies and Bond Benton from the Center for Strategic Communication at ÌÇÐÄvlog demonstrates the extent to which Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron\u2019s manifesto \u2013 the public statement for why he perpetrated the attack \u2013 was derived from hate content he consumed online.<\/p>\n
Specifically, the study showed over 80% of the rationale sections in Gendron’s manifesto came from extremist spaces he reported visiting<\/a>.<\/p>\n “The results present evidence that unmoderated online content poses real risks,\u201d said Justice Studies Professor Daniela Peterka-Benton.<\/p>\n The study, available to read in full in the Journal for Deradicalization<\/em><\/a>, used analytic software to assess textual authorship with results confirming content was substantially copied and pasted from the sources Gendron identified. The researchers also scraped 62 images from the document and used analysis programs to identify the online locations that have hosted these images.<\/p>\n The data collected and analyzed demonstrates the extent to which radical material he consumed influenced manifesto content.<\/p>\n Highlights from the study analyzing the \u2018rationale\u2019 sections of the manifesto include:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe internet has long been an unchecked playground for extremists and hate groups,\u201d said Peterka-Benton, who co-authored the study with Bond Benton, a researcher in the School of Communication and Media at ÌÇÐÄvlog.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople can be pulled into those hateful spaces, and it can define how they see the world. This was especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic, as young people like Gendron were online for vast portions of the day,\u201d said Benton.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the results represent a call to action for improved media literacy. \u201cFrom parents to online consumers, we need to be critical about the content we consume \u2013 particularly when we are just a few clicks away from the worst messages imaginable,\u201d said Peterka-Benton.<\/p>\n For more information or to set up an interview, contact the Media Relations team<\/a> at ÌÇÐÄvlog.<\/p>\nOnline Content and Extremist Radicalization<\/h2>\n
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Combating Online Hate Speech with Media Literacy<\/h2>\n