Active Citizenship and Hate Speech on Social Media in the Context of Romanian Family Referendum
Active Citizenship and Hate Speech on Social Media in the Context of Romanian Family Referendum

Summary/Abstract: Active citizenship is one of the most interesting characteristics of young generations worldwide and is strongly connected to digital media usage. Internet gives people a voice to speak up about stressing community problems, unite in groups with the same views for a stronger impact and conduct true lobby campaigns to promote and sustain their ideas. However tangible, utopic or doubtful this democratic way of civic involvement may appear for a global digital community, its manifestation is still problematic, as it nurtures, in some cases, hate speech and extreme polarization of opinions. To support this idea, we conducted a study that analysed civic activism and the values promoted in the context of Romanian Family Referendum. Using a qualitative methodology based on communication sciences techniques and semiotic investigation, we analysed the type of discourse used in social media and the frequency of hate speech and undemocratic behaviour. At the end of this study, we will outline some concluding ideas regarding the discussed topic.

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