THE POTRAYAL OF REFUGEES IN SOCIAL MEDIA

Abstract

Since 2015, refugees and asylum seekers have become more visible to the Western world. Contrary to the promotion of diversity, social solidarity and non-discrimination, refugees often face prejudices and rejection. The current refugee crisis in Europe leads to many disputes in the cyberspace (social media - online platforms where users can create and disseminate various types of content: audio, video, text or photo) also due to religious and cultural differences. Following the extremist actions of terrorists (and not only), Muslim refugees are facing stigma, marginalization, social exclusion and even criminalization. In contrast, in social media we also find statements that encourage and support refugees and promote non-discrimination as there are Europeans who are sympathetic to their struggle. Still, we cannot ignore online abuse and the backlash that is evident in social platforms such as Twitter. As an example, we mention the hashtag #refugeesNOTwelcome. Thus, this article makes a content analysis of the way in which refugees are portrayed in social media, aimed primarily at social networks like Facebook, Twitter but also websites and forums.