Every ninety or so, someone sends a potentially racist tweet. A new study by the British Demos (PDF) offers a first glance at the sexually native language on Twitter, discovering about 10.000 tweets a day using a language that can be considered offensive.
But, as it turns out, many of these tweets may not be deceptive, or offensive.
For example, about half of these tweets include the expression “white boy,” which does not usesalways about some kind of racial discrimination. Still others are potentially racist words used in a non-derogatory way. When such a word is used by members of the group it is to give a description description of friends.
In Results of research now, 70% of tweets that use racist language may not be derogatory, and only 500 to 2.000 tweets a day are directed at some clearly abusive.
"While there are many racial slurs used on Twitter, the vast majority of them are not used in a harmful or intolerant way," study editor Jamie Bartlett said in a statement. Daily Mail.
On the other hand, some tweets may be called racist without actually being racially charged - and those may have gone unnoticed. Or, as the report states: "Language is not needed in order to be hated by others."
From Twitter now, they stated that they "filter tweets or remove something that is potentially offensive, and that only tweets that violate the terms of service, such as direct threats.
You can download the research at PDF from here.
