Hate speech toward migrants on a citizen reporting platform concentrates in neighborhoods undergoing demographic change

2026-08-12

AI Summary

This study investigates how immigration influences social inclusion or exclusion in urban neighborhoods at fine-grained spatiotemporal scales, with a focus on the spatial patterns of xenophobic discourse. Leveraging over 550,000 geolocated citizen reports from Chile’s SOSAFE platform and employing a fine-tuned Spanish-language hate speech classifier validated through manual annotation, the research uncovers a “digital boundary” phenomenon: hate speech is not concentrated in traditional immigrant enclaves but instead clusters significantly in neighborhoods where newcomers constituted more than one-third of residents after 2010 and experienced rapid demographic shifts. Conversely, areas with higher educational attainment and fewer recent immigrants emerge as coldspots. The study also reveals that reports referencing immigrants or containing hateful content elicit substantially higher user engagement, underscoring the role of online platforms in reflecting societal tensions.

Abstract

Understanding when migration generates social integration or exclusion is a central challenge for urban communities. Existing research has mostly relied on surveys, administrative data, or aggregate indicators that fail to capture expressions of exclusion at fine spatiotemporal scales. Here, we analyze over 550,000 geolocated reports from SOSAFE (Chile's largest citizen reporting platform) to examine the relationship between migration and hate speech in Santiago. We fine-tune a Spanish hate speech classifier and validate it against human labels. Reports that mention migrants are more likely to contain hate speech than other reports. Hate speech concentrates in areas with recent demographic change (post-2010 arrivals) rather than in established migrant communities. The spatial analysis shows that hate speech hotspots coincide with neighborhoods where recent migrants comprise over a third of the population. Coldspots appear in high-education sectors with minimal recent migration. Reports with hate speech and reports that mention migrants receive more engagement, although their combination is not amplified further. These results show digital bordering on a citizen reporting platform: exclusionary discourse concentrates, and receives more engagement, in neighborhoods undergoing recent demographic change.

Problem

• hate speech
• migration
• social exclusion
• demographic change
• citizen reporting platform

Innovation

• hate speech detection
• geolocated citizen reports
• digital bordering
• spatiotemporal analysis
• migration and exclusion