Faith Under Fire: Online Hostility Toward Religious Minorities in Pakistan's Digital News Spaces

Mahrukh Nadeem; Farahat Ali

doi:10.1111/sena.70002

journal article Oct 13, 2025

Faith Under Fire: Online Hostility Toward Religious Minorities in Pakistan's Digital News Spaces

Mahrukh Nadeem Farahat Ali

Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism Vol. 26 No. 1 pp. 40-49 · Wiley

View at Publisher Save 10.1111/sena.70002

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Social media platforms have emerged as critical spaces for public discourse in Pakistan, yet they also amplify hate speech against religious minorities, notably Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus. This study examines the construction of hate speech in user comments on Facebook and YouTube news reports related to attacks on these communities. Using qualitative content analysis, we examined 20,205 comments posted under the news posts of major national and international Urdu‐language broadcasters between December 2020 and May 2024. The analysis reveals six predominant themes—religious justifications (7850, 38.9%), blasphemy allegations (4050, 20%), calls for violence (1620, 8%), dehumanization (2430, 12%), nationalist hate (3240, 16%), and rare supportive (1015, 5%). Emotional tones range from anger and hostility (8425, 41.7%), joy in violence (7455, 36.9%), fear and insecurity (1620, 8%), resentment (1015, 5%), sarcasm (1015, 5%) to occasional sympathy (675, 3.3%). These findings show how hate speech connects religious extremism, blasphemy laws and nationalism to legitimise exclusion and violence, often overshadowing tolerance. This research enhances our understanding of digital hate within legal and cultural contexts, providing insights into the performative power of online discourse and its implications for moderation, policy and counter‐extremism. It emphasises the urgent need for culturally sensitive approaches to mitigate online hate and foster digital inclusivity in polarised societies.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

54

[1]

10.32350/jitc.111.07

[2]

10.4337/9781803925738.00019

[3]

Ahmed A. A. (2010)

[4]

10.1080/09596410.2020.1713569

[5]

Al‐Zaman M. S.2021. “A Content Analysis of Social Media Users' Reaction to Religious Disinformation in Bangladesh.” Library Philosophy and Practice.https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/5213.

[6]

10.3758/s13428‐019‐01202‐8

[7]

10.1007/s12115‐017‐0114‐0

[8]

10.3390/math11040969

[9]

10.1163/15718115‐bja10039

[10]

10.1007/978-981-19-7405-2_9

[11]

10.1007/s10982‐017‐9297‐1

[12]

Bytes for All (B4A).2022).Expression vs Hate Speech: A Case Study of Pakistani Digital Media. Bytes for All. Retrieved fromhttps://bytesforall.pk/post/expression‐vs‐hate‐speech‐case‐study‐pakistani‐digital‐media.

[13]

Internet, social media and online hate speech. Systematic review

Sergio Andrés Castaño-Pulgarín, Natalia Suárez-Betancur, Luz Magnolia Tilano Vega et al.

Aggression and Violent Behavior 10.1016/j.avb.2021.101608

[14]

Hate speech review in the context of online social networks

Naganna Chetty, Sreejith Alathur

Aggression and Violent Behavior 10.1016/j.avb.2018.05.003

[15]

10.1080/15205436.2011.619679

[16]

10.1080/00856401.2020.1695075

[17]

Haque J.2014.Hate Speech: A Study of Pakistan's Cyberspace. Bytes for All Pakistan. Retrieved fromhttps://bytesforall.pk/publication/hate‐speech‐study‐pakistans‐cyberspace.

[18]

Human Rights Watch.2025.Pakistan: Events of 2024.https://www.hrw.org/world‐report/2025/country‐chapters/pakistan.

[19]

10.1007/978-3-030-34098-8_12

[20]

Kantar Media.2009.BBC Urdu Service: Qualitative Research Findings. BBC Trust. Retrieved fromhttps://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/review_report_research/ara2009_10/bbc_urdu.pdf.

[21]

Kemp S.2023.Digital 2023: Pakistan. DataReportal.https://datareportal.com/reports/digital‐2023‐pakistan.

[22]

10.17576/jkmjc‐2015‐3102‐25

[23]

10.1080/17512786.2023.2259381

[24]

10.1037/0022‐3514.79.4.602

[25]

10.1109/access.2024.3444188

[26]

Mayring P. (2015)

[27]

Media Bias/Fact Check.2023.DW News – Media Bias/Fact Check. Retrieved fromhttps://mediabiasfactcheck.com/dw‐news.

[28]

10.1080/13614568.2018.1489001

[29]

10.1016/j.ipm.2019.102087

[30]

10.33394/jollt.v12i1.9050

[31]

10.52337/pjia.v4i1.124

[32]

10.17645/mac.v9i2.3715

[33]

Parker C. (2011)

[34]

10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19097

[35]

10.1515/mwjhr‐2020‐0019

[36]

10.1007/978-3-030-16065-4_21

[37]

10.1080/19472498.2012.664419

[38]

10.1163/1875984x‐20230006

[39]

10.1108/gkmc‐04‐2023‐0123

[40]

10.17645/mac.v9i1.3399

[41]

Saleem A. (2024)

[42]

10.1080/17512786.2013.813194

[43]

10.4324/9781003365426-10

[44]

10.5771/2192‐4007‐2021‐1‐48

[45]

10.4135/9781446282243.n12

[46]

Setiabudi R. "Anonymous and Online Hate Speech When Government Raised Subsidized Fuel Prices: An Analysis on Instagram Account of Indonesian State‐Owned Company" Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology (2023)

[47]

Stenetorp P. S.Pyysalo G.Topić T.Ohta S.Ananiadou andJ.Tsujii.2012. “BRAT: A Web‐Based Tool for NLP‐Assisted Text Annotation.”Proceedings of the Demonstrations at the13th Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics 102–107.

[48]

10.3126/informal.v1i1.69165

[49]

The Online Disinhibition Effect

John Suler

CyberPsychology & Behavior 10.1089/1094931041291295

[50]

Tajfel H. (1979)

Showing 50 of 54 references

Metrics

0

Citations

54

References

Details

Published: Oct 13, 2025
Vol/Issue: 26(1)
Pages: 40-49
License: View

Authors

M

Mahrukh Nadeem

Faculty of Media and Mass Communication University of Central Punjab Lahore Pakistan

F

Farahat Ali

School of Media and Mass Communication Beaconhouse National University Lahore Pakistan

Cite This Article

Mahrukh Nadeem, Farahat Ali (2025). Faith Under Fire: Online Hostility Toward Religious Minorities in Pakistan's Digital News Spaces. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 26(1), 40-49. https://doi.org/10.1111/sena.70002

Faith Under Fire: Online Hostility Toward Religious Minorities in Pakistan's Digital News Spaces

You May Also Like