Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP14877
Authors: Maria Petrova; Leonardo Bursztyn; Georgy Egorov; Ruben Enikolopov
Abstract: We study the causal effect of social media on ethnic hate crimes and xenophobic attitudes in Rus- sia and the mechanisms underlying this effect, using quasi-exogenous variation in social media penetration across cities. Higher penetration of social media led to more hate crimes in cities with a high pre-existing level of nationalist sentiment. Consistent with a mechanism of coordination of crimes, the effects are stronger for crimes with multiple perpetrators. Using a national survey experiment, we also find evidence of a mechanism of persuasion: social media led individuals (especially young, male, and less-educated ones) to hold more xenophobic attitudes.
Keywords: social media; xenophobia; hate crime; russia
JEL Codes: D7; H0; J15
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Higher social media penetration (VK) (Z13) | Increased xenophobic attitudes (F66) |
| Higher social media penetration (VK) (Z13) | Increased xenophobic attitudes among younger males (J79) |
| Higher social media penetration (VK) (Z13) | Increased xenophobic attitudes among individuals with lower education (I24) |
| Higher social media penetration (VK) (Z13) | No significant effect on self-reported xenophobic preferences (C92) |
| Higher social media penetration (VK) (Z13) | Increased ethnic hate crimes (J15) |
| Higher pre-existing nationalist sentiment (F52) | Increased ethnic hate crimes (J15) |