HAFFECT explores hate speech as an affective practice and part of everyday digital culture. It investigates how emotions connected to hate speech are produced, circulated, experienced, managed and re-used. The project also pays attention to the ways in which digital platforms take part in hosting and creating affective practices around hate speech and how managing hate speech itself has become a business for technology companies.
In the intersection of media, cultural and technology studies, HAFFECT develops theoretical, methodological and empirical understanding of hate speech. This means investigating the complexity and multiplicity of the phenomenon in order to understand the ways it affects individual experiences and society at large.