According to a research by the Australian-based Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV), about 86% of anti-Muslim social media messages originate in the United States, the United Kingdom, and India.
The research revealed that between August 28, 2019, and August 27, 2021, there were at least 3,759,180 Islamophobic tweets on Twitter.
In 2021, the United Nations urged the world community to “take all necessary measures” to counteract anti-Muslim prejudice and to “prohibit any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to violence,” while warning that anti-Muslim hatred has reached “epidemic proportions.”
This request, however, has mostly fallen on deaf ears, notably among the executive boards of social media companies, which have done little or nothing to remove anti-Muslim information from their platforms, according to TRT World.
According to the ICV researchers, India created the most content, with 871,379 Islamophobic tweets, followed by the United States (289,248) and the United Kingdom (196,376).
The study also identified four significant themes that frequently appeared on Twitter when it was displaying Islamophobic content. The connection between Islam and terrorism, the portrayal of Muslims as sexual assaulters, the conspiracy that makes false claims that Muslim immigrants are displacing white people in the West and Hindus in India, and labeling of Halal as an inhumane practice.
“We conclude from this that Twitter is significantly failing to remove anti-Muslim information,” according to the research. “This is hardly surprising considering that they do not automatically screen posts for hate, but rather respond only once a report is filed.”
“However, even when Islamophobia is brought to their attention, just about 3% of flagged tweets are removed.”