THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN AMPLIFYING HATE SPEECH: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF IMRAN KHAN AND NAWAZ SHARIF'S RHETORIC ON YOUTUBE

Abstract

This study aims to understand the causes of hate speech, its implications, and reactions. The study surveys the underlying reasons for hate language, the motives of the person using it, and the results of such hate speeches on the followers and the public in general. This is primarily qualitative research and the speeches of two Pakistani leaders Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (PML-N) and Imran Khan (PTI) are selected as a case to collect the data, and comments of the followers and opponents of these leaders collected from the Youtube.com comment section. The data was codified for commonly emerging themes. The data revealed that the speeches resulted in a strong, abusive, mudslinging, and offensive reaction by the followers to the persons and institutions targeted by their political leaders. These speeches resulted in intolerance, fanaticism, and bigotry in an already polarized society and popularized the use of abusive language and trends on social media.