SEIS Contributes to UCLA Initiative to Study Hate

Wasserman Dean Christina (Tina) Christie was highlighted in a UCLA Newsroom article on the University’s Initiative to Study Hate. Christie, a professor in the Social Research Methodology division of the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, will lead a project titled, “Social Media and the Spread of Hate” (SMASH). 

Dean Christie and Anne Gilliland, UCLA professor of Information studies and director of the Center for Information as Evidence at UCLA, will co-lead the collaboration between SEIS researchers and the Organization for Social Media Safety, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit centered on protecting users of social media, especially K-12 students.  

Christine Ong, a research scientist from UCLA’s Center for Research on Evaluations, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST), will analyze data about students’ exposure to hate speech on social media from more than 40 schools across the country that are participating in Organization for Social Media Safety’s programming. In addition, Ong will conduct focus group discussions with students in four Los Angeles schools.

“Our approach will include gathering youth input,” Dean Christie said to Newsroom. “We will also consider differences between social media platforms and different categories of hate speech. We hope to lay a firm foundation for future studies investigating how social media hate speech affects youths’ mental and physical health and learning trajectories.”

Read the full article on the UCLA Newsroom website.