An innovative new research briefing by Amnesty International breaks down the “virulent cocktail” of xenophobic, racist and misogynistic hate targeting racialized women and LGBTQI+ people in Canada.
The Hate is Intersectional: Xenophobic Technology-facilitates Gender-Based Violence (TfGBV) against Racialized Women and 2SLGBTQIA+ People in Canada exposes a playbook of toxic tropes and tactics spreading across social media as anti-immigrant rhetoric rises both online and offline. Launching alongside the briefing are new social media videos and graphics – part of Amnesty International’s global Make It Safe Online campaign – to counter online hate with messages of critical resistance, inclusion, and hope.
“We are in the midst of an epidemic of digital hate-mongering designed to intimidate, dehumanize and attack racialized migrant women and LGBTQI+ people,” said Shreshtha Das, researcher and advisor on gender at Amnesty International.
“These attacks subject racialized women and LGBTQI+ people to a virulent cocktail of misogynist, xenophobic and racist hate that is steeped in ideas of white supremacy. We hope that, by exposing hateful false narratives and how they spread, we can draw attention to the toll it takes, help survivors get the support they need, and contribute to the work of activists fighting back.”
To arrive at their findings, Amnesty researchers drew upon a computer-assisted text analysis of thousands of social media posts and comments, as well as interviews with Black, Indigenous and other racialized women and LGBTQI+ people who had experienced technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TfGBV). (The term LGBTQI+ refers to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or queer, and can include other minority groups who have been discriminated against based upon their sexual orientation or gender identity.)
We are in the midst of an epidemic of digital hate-mongering designed to intimidate, dehumanize and attack racialized migrant women and LGBTQI+ people
Shreshtha Das, researcher and advisor on gender at Amnesty International.
Amnesty International’s analysis found that racialized migrants and others perceived as such – particularly women and LGBTQI+ people – are routinely subjected to racist, homophobic and misogynistic attacks, including misogynist slurs, dehumanizing racist language likening them to animals or disease, and narratives framing them as economic “burdens” and targets for exclusion, deportation and violence.
Hateful attacks spreading false narratives
A dominant theme that emerged in the social media analysis was the racist narrative that “mass immigration” poses an existential threat to Canada, and specifically to its white “legacy” population. Many xenophobic online attacks referenced racist so-called “great replacement” or “white genocide” theories, which falsely claim that white, Christian populations are being deliberately replaced with non-white migrants and their descendants. These narratives frame racialized migrants, and other people perceived as migrants, as threats to national identity, traditions and institutions rooted in settler European identity – which are constructed as inherently superior. These narratives are used to justify xenophobic and racist TfGBV, rooted in the brutal historical injustices of colonialism that continue to have effects today.
In Canada, people perceived as South Asian or Muslim are most frequently targeted in online attacks that invoke the so-called “great replacement” theory. In the social media posts reviewed by Amnesty International, there were numerous taunts calling for women and LGBTQI+ people from racialized communities to be deported, or they were told to they don’t belong in Canada and that they must “go back,” even in cases where the target was a Canadian citizen.
Amnesty’s social media analysis and first-person interviews found that the public visibility of vocal racialized women was framed as a hostile takeover of Canadian institutions. Journalist Saba Eitizaz told Amnesty International that in one of the emails she received when she was subjected to a violent and organized hate attack in 2022, the sender “talked about in great detail how they could break my jaw so I wouldn’t be able to talk, but then they wouldn’t kill me.”
“[T]he hate seemed to be more directed, just anger that I even had a voice in Canadian media.”
Amnesty International’s analysis of the collected data also indicates that women’s and LGBTQI+ people’s rights have often been instrumentalized to cast racialized migrant populations as a threat to public safety and, in particular, to “traditional” white families. “Online attacks mentioning ‘rape gangs’ and ‘grooming gangs’ – supposedly run by Black and brown men – and ‘immigrant rapists’ spread disinformation and falsely invoke a sense of fear and imminent sexual threat, predominantly to white women and children,” said Shreshtha Das. “This not only fuels misplaced anger and hate towards racialized migrant communities, but also does nothing to address the root causes of gender-based violence.”
This online rhetoric corresponds with recent trends in reported hate crimes in Canada: between 2020 and 2023, the annual number of hate crimes against South Asian people rose by 90 per cent, while anti-Muslim hate crimes increased by 150 per cent, according to Statistics Canada. Online spaces are not separate from the “offline” world. They reflect and amplify dominant, often violent, discourse about gender, race, migration, and their intersections.
The toll on physical, mental health
Unsurprisingly, these attacks take a toll on the people targeted. Racialized women and LGBTQI+ people interviewed for the briefing reported serious harms to their mental and physical health, which in turn affected their family lives and their careers. Journalist Erica Ifill, who was the target of an organized hate attack in 2022, told Amnesty International that she fell into a deep depression when the online hate campaign started. “It was super difficult. It was depressing. It was very shocking… I like to call it a digital lynch. I got digitally lynched”.
Yet, survivors interviewed for the briefing said they found little or no recourse to justice through formal means. In the absence of adequate structural protections, some have resorted to forms of self-censorship such as making their social media accounts private, quitting certain platforms, or being more selective about what they post.
‘Policy changes are not enough’
In response, Amnesty International concludes the briefing with a series of policy recommendations aimed at dispelling hateful narratives, quelling online violence and harassment, and ensuring holistic support for survivors of TfGBV.
Politicians across the political spectrum have a responsibility to call out hateful narratives when they encounter them. And we must not allow them to condone – let alone indulge in – dehumanizing rhetoric that threatens people’s safety, online and on the street.”
Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section.
“Decision-makers in Canada must take urgent steps to prevent and holistically address xenophobic, racist and misogynistic narratives circulating online,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. “They must also recognize that policy changes are not enough. Politicians across the political spectrum have a responsibility to call out hateful narratives when they encounter them. And we must not allow them to condone – let alone indulge in – dehumanizing rhetoric that threatens people’s safety, online and on the street.”
Countering efforts to push certain voices of out of the landscape requires collective resistance and solidarity to shut down hate, build collective power, and transform our world together.
Elaheh Sajadi, a gender rights campaigner with Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section.
To accompany the release of the report, Amnesty International has launched a Canada-focused social media campaign challenging “us vs. them” narratives that divide communities, scapegoat migrants and fuel technology-facilitated gender-based violence aimed at silencing women and LGBTQI+ activists and journalists who challenge these narratives. Supporters are encouraged to share the campaign video, call out these narratives wherever they arise, and resist their spread by amplifying messages of solidarity – affirming that we are better together.
“What we are seeing is not just harmful rhetoric, but a coordinated effort to push certain voices out of the landscape,” said Elaheh Sajadi, a gender rights campaigner with Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. “Countering it requires collective resistance and solidarity to shut down hate, build collective power, and transform our world together.”
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