Having a dashboard that can accurately capture and identify online hate speech trends is important for three reasons. Firstly, it would supplement existing qualitative hate speech studies in Indonesia by providing quantifiable data portraying the volume and actors that share hate speech content. In conjunction with existing research, this dashboard will be crucial in developing a better description of the magnitude and gravity of online hate speech in Indonesia. Secondly, by providing information on not only the volume of hate speech but also who is the network of actors who post and/or shares them, this dashboard can also assist policymakers to develop more accurate policies in targeting the sources of online hate speech in Indonesia. Thirdly, by providing the chronological patterns of how online hate speech intensifies, the dashboard can assist policymakers and other relevant stakeholders in developing early warning markers to anticipate and pre-empt a rise in hate speech in future electoral periods.
This dashboard sources its data from public tweets on Twitter and limit the focus of its observations towards hate speech that are targeted to three vulnerable minorities in Indonesia: Indonesian Ahmadiyyah, Shi’a Indonesians, and Chinese Indonesians. These actors are selected because in the past these communities have been targeted by some of the worst campaigns of hate speech in the country – each campaign resulting into significant, and normalized, violation of their rights.