How Low-Intensity Religious Hate Becomes Normalized Across Spanish News on Platform X

What is it about?

This study investigates how low-intensity religious hostility becomes normalized on social media through a polycentric governance model shaped by platform algorithms, newsroom editorial policies, and peer social validation. Analyzing 53,787 comments on X across six ideologically diverse Spanish outlets (El País, Público, 20 Minutos, El Confidencial, ABC, and OKDiario), the authors examine the prevalence, intensity, narrative structures, and temporal dynamics of religious hate. The findings reveal that hostility is dominated by anti-Muslim rhetoric (40.4%), followed by anti-Catholic (33.1%) and anti-Semitic discourse (25.2%), with 78.4% occurring as low-intensity incivility or malicious speech. High-impact events (e.g., migration crises or geopolitical conflicts) open temporary 72-hour normative windows where hostility thresholds relax, gradually turning veiled prejudice into accepted conversational common sense.

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Photo by Kristijan Arsov on Unsplash

Photo by Kristijan Arsov on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Exposes the Mechanism of Symbolic Violence: Demonstrates that 78.4% of religious hostility consists of low-intensity incivility and malicious speech, which evade automated content moderation filters designed for explicit threats while quietly eroding social cohesion. Reveals Event-Driven Escalation Windows: Proves that external crises create temporary 72-hour "normative windows of opportunity" where discursive thresholds relax, driving a cumulative ratchet effect that permanently elevates social tolerance toward intolerance. Moves Beyond Purely Algorithmic Blame: Establishes that news media outlets act as autonomous intermediaries whose ideological framing and comment-moderation choices co-structure distinct regimes of acceptability for hostility alongside platform algorithms.

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