Influencers y mensajes de odiojóvenes y consumo de contenidos autocensurados

Abstract

Although hate messages are nothing new, today they resurface with more vigor than ever. The intensity with which they spread can undoubtedly be largely attributed to social media. One of the most recent phenomena to emerge from these platforms are those known as “influencers”, people with the ability to influence and even modify opinions, mainly among younger audiences. They are also one of the main recipients of hate messages on the Internet. What consequences does this have on the content they generate? The present research aims to detect the reaction of the main influencers in Spain to the hate messages they receive and to study the perception of these reactions by young people who follow them. For this, the methodological triangulation made up of the participant observation, discussion group and survey tools has been used. The results show that some influencers self-censor their content to avoid receiving hateful messages. Young people are aware of self-censorship and, although they believe that there are opinions that deserve it, they see negatively the “spiral of silence” effect that this has generated on social networks.