Hate Speech or Hate Shot?

Nowadays, the Muslim community is one of the most discriminated groups in Europe. Anti-Islam hate speeches circulate online and offline especially through the intense use social media, fake news, bots, and click-baiting practices. However even if Muslim discriminatory practices have been gaining more media relevance in the recent years, anti-Muslim stereotypes date back far beyond our times. Using the theoretical frameworks developed by Said and Moscovici this research aims to analyze 31 semi-structured interviews conducted with the volunteers of the Amnesty International’s Hate Speech Task Force, to investigate which are the most persistent anti-Muslim representations in Europe and Italy today. In bringing the theory into practice this work will explore the dynamics occurring on Facebook among users which show polarized and intolerant positions while engaging an Islam-related conversation. This specific case study will allow to show how and why old anti-Islam stereotypes persist almost unchanged from an offline to an online world.