University News Last updated 07 September 2015
A criminology expert has warned that the rise in Islamophobic attacks is being mirrored online as figures show hate crimes against Muslims in London have increased 70 per cent.
Imran Awan, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Birmingham City University, says statistics released by the Metropolitan Police echo the sentiment found in the virtual world and that the problem urgently needs tackling by government and police.
Last year Mr Awan conducted a study into trending topics on social media platform Twitter to analyse the language used to discuss Islam.
The findings were published in a report which revealed what he labelled the 'Eight Faces of Hate Crime', including 'the Trawler', a social media user who searches other people's twitter accounts to specifically target those with a Muslim connection.
Mr Awan said: "As we see anti-Muslim hate crime increase in places, such as London, we have also witnessed a high level of Islamophobic attacks online.
"Muslims with a 'visible' identity are more likely to be vulnerable to hostility, intimidation, abuse and threats.
Other 'Faces of Hate Crime' include 'the Disseminator' who regularly tweets and retweets anti-Islamic views, 'the Reactive' who begins a targeted hate campaign following a major incident and 'the Impersonator' who uses fake profiles and images to target individuals.
Tweets analysed were selected based on UK trends under the hashtags #Muslim, #Islam and #Woolwich.
Mr Awan added: "In studies conducted online we have also found that Muslim women have suffered more hate attacks then men.
"And whilst many of the incidents may be reported after 'trigger' events, this case shows a steady increase in attacks."
More than 75 per cent of the Tweets showed a strong Islamic feeling used to stereotype and collectively label Muslims.
The research also found that some of the highest recurring phrases used to discuss Muslims in a derogatory manner included:
- 'Muslim pigs' (9 per cent)
- 'Muzrats' (14 per cent)
- 'Muslim Paedos' (30 per cent)
- 'Muslim terrorists' (22 per cent)
- 'Muslim scum' (15 per cent)
- 'Pisslam' (10 per cent)
Published in the peer-reviewed journal, 'Policy & Internet', the study, 'Islamophobia and Twitter: A Typology of Online Hate against Muslims on Social Media', examines a random sample of 500 tweets from 100 different UK Twitter users, which were posted between January 2013 and April 2014.