Securitization of Islam and Muslims Through Social Media: A Content Analysis of Stopislam in Twitter

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to examine the securitization of Islam and Muslims on Twitter. Therefore, whether and to what extent securitized images of Islam and Muslims have been produced on Twitter and to analyze the dominant securitized themes and their sub-dimensions. The methodology used for this purpose consisted of quantitative and qualitative analysis and analyzed hashtags #stopislam trending on Twitter. It was found that #stopislam produced securitized images of Islam and Muslims. Totalitarianism as a sub-dimension of ideological threat in the context of Securitization of Islam is dominating than Sharia Law and Jihadism while no evidence has been found in Whahabism Category. Similarly, in the existential threat category in the securitization of Muslims sub-dimension, general Muslims are dominating than Women's, immigrants and refugees on #stopislam. #stopislm produced less neutral and favoring Muslims Tweets evident that hashtag produced securitized images of Islam and Muslims.

Contemporary Securitisation of Islam and Muslims: A Content Analysis of Twitter

“…To ensure validity, the researchers conducted sentiment analysis and applied an instrument of analysis, the technique of data collection by Awan (2016) with some significant modifications, as the primary tool developed by the Online Hate Centre (2013) for the publication of "Islamophobia on the Internet" and adopted by Civila (2020) for Twitter. The study also validates the finding by Khan, Shah, & Ahmad (2020) in analysing Twitter hashtags related to securitisation of Muslims.…”

“…The ideological threat can be studied and understood in four sub-dimensions such as totalitarianism, jihadi, Wahahabism and Sharia law. Similarly, the existential threat aspect is classified as a threat to immigrants, women, refugees and general Muslims (Iqbal, 2019;Khan et al, 2020;Khan, R. A. A et al, 2022).…”

“…As the primary tool developed by the OHC (2013) for the publication "Islamophobia on the Internet", the adaptation did not require significant modifications, as applied to Facebook by Awan (2016). The same methodology was used by Khan, Shah, & Ahmad (2020) on Twitter to analyse Twitter hashtags. This rationalises that the tool can be extended to all the platforms the network offers, including Twitter as used by (Civila, 2020) on Twitter.…”

“…API software was used for retrieving tweets. The same methodology and instruments were used by Khan, Shah, & Ahmad (2020) to analyse Twitter hashtags in the securitisation of Muslims. Additionally, this study took into consideration validity which refers to how accurately a method measures what it is intended to measure.…”

Using Deep Learning to Detect Islamophobia on Reddit

“…(Vidgen and Yasseri 2020) describes Islamophobia as a type of racism, stereotyping, prejudice, fear, and dominance. Furthermore, (Ahmed Khan, Shah, and Ahmad 2020) defines Islamophobia as an unfounded fear or hatred of Islam, Islamic values & traditions, and an unjustified hostility towards Muslims. Moreover, they also found that Islamophobia and violence towards the Muslim community has increased in The United States and Europe since 9/11.…”