The Science of Hate

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About

HateLab is a global hub for data and insight into hate speech and crime. We use data science methods, including ethical forms of AI, to measure and counter the problem of hate both online and offline. The HateLab Dashboard has been developed by academics with policy and practice partners to provide aggregate trends over time and space. The Dashboard is being piloted within policing, government and civil society organisations. We are funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Latest news

HateLab Report: Online Hate Speech and the World Cup

Study identified around 200 posts classed as homophobic or racist.
HateLab Report: Online Hateful Abuse Sent During the Women’s Euro 2022

Research finds much more hope than hate in posts sent to England’s women at Euros
Director interviewed on Buffalo Hate Crime Shooting

Professor Williams' expert opinion on the mass shooter broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Today, BBC Radio London and BBC Radio Scotland.
HateLab featured in The Observer Magazine

Hate speech online has escalated to unprecedented levels. Matthew Williams, a professor of criminology, is shining a scientific light on who is behind it and why
HateLab Director interviewed for BBC World Service Deeply Human Series

Why do we hate one another - and how can we stop? How and when does conflict metastasize into hatred? Dessa picks apart the science of hostility, with help from a criminologist who identifies the tipping point between prejudice and hate.
Director gives expert opinion in CBS Hate Crime Documentary

Murder: First on Scene investigates the hateful killing of Sophie Lancaster, a case Professor Williams covers in his book, The Science of Hate
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Projects

HateLab Dashboard

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (part of UKRI) and the Alfred Landecker Foundation between 2017 and 2023, this grant supports the development of the HateLab Dashboard which is provided free of charge to civil society organisations that do not have the resources to routinely monitor and counter online hate speech and divisive […]

Understanding [Online/Offline] Society: Linking Surveys with Twitter Data

Funded from 2020 to 2024, this project examines the link between the expression of prejudice and hate in online and offline settings.

Hate Crime After Brexit

This project is a partnership between HateLab and the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT). Funded between 2019 and 2022, the project will link multiple hate crime datasets in the UK, allowing for causal inferences to be made.  A new linked dataset, incorporating both offline and online measures, will allow us to determine if events, like the Brexit […]

Understanding Online Hate Speech as a Motivator for Hate Crime

Funded between 2016 and 2019, this project will investigate the utility of Twitter data for understanding what types, for whom, and where online hate speech acts a ‘signature’ of offline hate crime. The study will develop a statistical model that links anonymous aggregate online hate speech and offline hate crimes, using tweets and reported hate crimes […]

Hate Speech and Social Media

Funded between 2013 and 2014, this project developed a range of machine learning classifiers designed to identify online hate speech across the protected characteristics of race, religion, sexual orientation and disability.  These classifiers were used in the first study of online hate speech produced in the aftermath of a terrorist event. Using Big Data to […]

Social Media and Prediction: Crime Sensing, Data Integration and Statistical Modelling

This project ran between 2013 and 2015, and aimed to test if social media data could be used to  estimate crime patterns at an aggregate level.  Data were collected over 12 months generating 180 million geocoded tweets and close to 600,000 Metropolitan Police recorded crime incidents.  The ethics of using social media in crime and security […]
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Publications

Cullen, A. and Williams, M. L., (2022)

Online hate speech targeting the England women’s football team during the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022

HateLab Reseach Report

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Williams, M. L., Sutherland, A., Roy-Chowdhury, V., Loke, T., Cullen, A., Sloan, L., Burnap, P. and Giannasi, P., (2022)

The effect of the Brexit vote on the variation in race and religious hate crimes in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

The British Journal of Criminology

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Williams, M., (2021)

The Science of Hate: How prejudice becomes hate and what we can do to stop it

Faber and Faber

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Alorainy, W., Burnap, P., Liu, H., Williams, M. and Giommoni, L., (2021)

Disrupting networks of hate: Characterising hateful networks and removing critical nodes

Social Network Analysis and Mining

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Ozalp, S., Williams, M. L., Burnap, P., Liu, H. and Mostafa, M., (2020)

Antisemitism on twitter: collective efficacy and the role of community organisations in challenging online hate speech

Social Media and Society

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