Report: Plus-size hate

Cyberhate, or online hate speech and aggression, can target people due to their weight and physical appearance. It can also be present in social media news and comments and discussions around them. In social media news, it can take the form of stereotypical and insulting or mocking content about overweight people.

We asked young people about their reactions to seeing several examples of such hateful or negative news posts and comments. When asking about their reactions, we differentiated passivity, helpful reactions, and harmful reactions.

Key findings

How do young people react to being exposed to cyberhate that targets overweight people?

• The most common reaction among young people was passivity (i.e., staying out of it and not reacting in any way), followed by helpful reactions (i.e., reporting hateful posts, blocking the authors, writing positive comments, messages, or posts about overweight people). Harmful reactions (i.e., liking hateful posts, writing negative comments, messages, or posts about overweight people) were the least likely.
• Men were more likely to report harmful reactions, while women tended to show more helpful reactions, such as reporting hateful posts or blocking the authors. There was no gender difference in passivity.

How do they explain their reactions?

• Participants expressed a strong belief that body weight and appearance are personal freedoms, emphasising empathy toward overweight people and disapproving of cyberhate.
• However, a minority justified harmful reactions, citing concerns about health and freedom of speech.

Passivity was justified by avoiding conflict or the fear of escalating the situation. Some participants also expressed concerns that reacting could lead to more exposure to hateful content due to social media algorithms, or it could increase the reach of the original hateful content.