Hated More: Online Violence Targeting Women of Color Candidates in the 2024 US Election
With University of Pittsburgh: women of color candidates experienced disproportionately high volumes of online abuse, hate, and mis/disinformation compared with other candidates.
Executive summary
AI-generatedThis summary was generated by AI from the original report to make it easier to scan and cite. It is not a substitute for the source — read the original above.
Produced with the University of Pittsburgh's Ford Institute for Human Security, this study analyzed more than 800,000 tweets posted between May 20 and August 23, 2024, that mentioned candidates running for the US Congress on X, including posts referencing Kamala Harris as a woman-of-color presidential candidate.
The analysis found that offensive and hate speech directed at congressional candidates was not evenly distributed: African-American women candidates faced a disproportionately higher share of hateful and abusive attacks than candidates from other racial or gender groups. The researchers frame this as a continuation of a pattern CDT identified in its earlier study of the 2020 election cycle, where women of color candidates already experienced elevated levels of violent and sexist online abuse.
The report situates these findings within ongoing concerns about platform moderation during high-stakes political periods, arguing that persistent, race- and gender-skewed online violence against candidates of color has implications for equitable political participation and representation.
Think this summary is wrong? Contact us.