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Online hate speech: Who faces the most online toxicity in Europe?

Toxic online messages remain widespread in Europe, targeting people based on their politics, race and identity. Which EU countries face the highest levels of hostile content?

READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/05/27/online-hate-speech-who-faces-the-most-online-toxicity-in-europe

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Transcript
00:00Who faces the most online hate in Europe?
00:06In 2025, just under half of internet users in 20 EU countries encountered messages online
00:13that they considered hostile and degrading towards specific groups of people or individuals.
00:19The highest shares were recorded in Ireland, Hungary, Finland and Slovakia.
00:24In contrast, the lowest shares were in Latvia, Greece, Germany and Lithuania.
00:29These messages targeted different groups of people or individuals.
00:33Most people saw messages that targeted others for their political or social views,
00:37racial and ethnic origin, sexual orientation and religion or belief.
00:42Hostile messages also targeted people based on sex, disability, age or other personal characteristics.
00:49In the last quarter of 2025, Western and Southern Europe registered a higher level of social media toxicity,
00:56according to the European Observatory of Online Hate.
01:00Anti-Semitic content is frequently linked to racist themes with significant overlaps with religion and politics,
01:06highlighting the deeply ideological and conspirational nature of this discourse.
01:11This is followed by anti-Muslim, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-refugee content.
01:16X was found to be the most toxic social media platform among YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok,
01:23although levels of toxicity have remained stable or even decreased.
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