Thread by @EJGibney

THREAD: This past week, I ventured into the comments section of Breitbart’s article documenting the timeline of the mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand. In total, I collected about 500 comments. Roughly 10% of the total comments on the article. Here’s what I found. 1/

There were a few categories that dominated the comment thread. Twenty percent of the 500 comments collected expressed some form of joy or happiness over the results of the mass shooting where 51 people were murdered. 2/

Forty percent of the 500 comments collected were anti-Muslim, despite the article being a timeline of an attack on a mosque. This kind of Pavlovian response is evidence that Breitbart has trained its audience to voice outrage when the headline includes the word Muslim. 3/

The remaining 40% expressed a desire for additional violence in the form of a “new crusade” or “civil war” and questioned whether the mass shooting was a “false flag”. 4/

👇5/

👀6/

Not all comments on this article would be considered “hate speech”, but they’re all a reflection of the outrage Breitbart has fomented for years. Nothing keeps Breitbart's audience more engaged than a shared hatred of “others”. 7/

I’ve documented thousands of Breitbart comments over nearly 3 years that show a pattern of hate and violence. Articles that target the Muslim community often produce the most violent comments. 8/

In an article documenting a mass shooting at a mosque, Breitbart thought it would be appropriate to add a “fake news” jab at @WajahatAli to their timeline. The user comments in this thread seem to vindicate Wajahat’s claim that Breitbart promotes anti-Muslim sentiment. 9/

For a brief time, it looked as though every comment was being held for moderation. It's unclear why this was happening but it appears to have been a technical issue. 10/

When the held comments were cleared, I saw something that I've never had the opportunity to see before. Determined commenters aren't dismayed when their comments are held, they actively try to circumvent moderation. Here are some examples: 11/

I'm sure that moderation on Breitbart's scale is a challenge. It’s clear, however, that there is a significant lack of either desire or manpower to effectively tame the cesspool they’ve created. 12/

Comments on Breitbart are provided by @disqus. In a @FastCompany article from March 2017, former @disqus CEO Daniel Ha said the company was working with Breitbart “clean things up”. I’m struggling to find the fruits of their labor. /END
fastcompany.com/3068698/disqus…