Publications
-
Recent Shifts in Online Safety: Social Media Bans, Location Tracking, and AI-Driven Hate
This past month has seen some major developments in the world of social media and online hate. Yesterday, Australia’s world-leading social media ban for under 16s came into effect, with the goal of helping to shield young people from harmful online content. We also recently saw X roll out its new location-display feature, as well…
-
Coded Racism Online: How Crime Stories Become a Vehicle for Hate
Online hate is not always easy to spot. Sometimes it hides behind slang or words that sound harmless but are deeply hurtful to the people they target. This briefing looks at a pattern of racism aimed at African Australians using terms like “licorice stick” in comments on social media. You often see these words under…
-
The Many Faces of the March for Australia: From Concern to Far-Right Extremism
The 19th of October 2025 saw the most recent iteration of the “March for Australia” rallies conducted around the country. The original marches, on the 31st of August 2025, were attended by over 50,000 people in various cities across Australia. The most recent marches saw significantly lower numbers. The next march is planned for Australia…
-
Laugh Reacts to Law and Order: Trans Exclusion in the Online Public Sphere
The following briefing looks at how people talk about transgender-related content on social media, specifically on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. We examined approximately 100 public comments reacting to transwomen and found a pattern: even when comments avoid overt slurs, they often carry the same harmful messages in subtle ways. The Global Internet Forum to…
-
Social Media and the Normalisation of Hate: October 7 Two Years On
This OHPI report examines changes to antisemitism across ten social platforms from the year before October 7 through to the second anniversary of the attack. It reflects a sharp rise in the months after October 7, a decline later in 2024, then a renewed rise in antisemitism during 2025. On four platforms the level of…
-
Division and Disgust: Why Indians Became The Target of Australia’s Online Hate
On the 31st of August, tens of thousands of Australians took to the streets in various Australian cities to oppose immigration in Australia. Official promotional materials for the event singled out one group of immigrants in particular: Indians. Flyers for the events claimed that there have been “more Indians in 5 years, than Greeks and…
-
Manchester Synagogue Attack: Yom Kippur 2025
A deadly terrorist attack at Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester on the morning of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calender, has left two people dead and three more with serious injuries. The attacker was also killed, shot by armed police multiple times after he refused to stay down and was reaching for…
-
Slam Dunks to Slurs: Anti-LGBTQ+ hate in NBA Online Culture
Recently we’ve noticed a normalised level of homophobia in online spaces related to the NBA. This isn’t surprising – historically the league, and professional sports in general, has had issues with homophobia. In 2007, John Amaechi became the first NBA player to come out as gay. Over the coming season, several NBA players would be…
-
Annual Activity Reports 2024 & 2025
We’re please to share the Online Hate Prevention Institute’s annual activity reports covering the period 1 July 2023 – 30 June 2024, and 1 July 2024 – 30 June 2025. We have combined these into a single report.
-
Cape Town
In August our CEO, Dr Andre Oboler, visited Cape Town to speak at the G20 Interfaith Forum. He participated in two panels, one focused on Ethical Issues for Artificial Intelligence and the other on “Positives and Negatives of Modern Communications: Addressing Disinformation and Related Social Tensions“. While in Cape Town he also delivered a seminal…