Perceptions and Behaviors of University Students in the Face of Online Hate Speech: a Comparative Analysis Between Spain and Italy

Hate speech is evidence that social networks do not always favor modern democracies; there are more and more issues related to their misuse, putting Western values at stake. This phenomenon has increased with the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this paper is to investigate in Spanish and Italian university students their perceptions of hate speech such as sexting, grooming, cyberbullying, to analyze their online behaviors as victims and aggressors and to explore the forms of hatred towards people who have played a relevant role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a quantitative-descriptive methodology, 418 university students from both countries participated, recruited through non-probabilistic sampling. The results obtained show that in both countries there is an increase in the perception of hatred during COVID-19. In this context, the most increased forms of violence are sexting, gender violence and cyberbullying; among the most affected categories are healthcare workers, supermarket workers, and people with disabilities. Therefore, the results highlight the need to address hate speech with an educational approach oriented towards both critical and responsible media literacy as well as respect for diversity, interculturality, and emotional education