Online hate speech has firmly entered the public lexicon as one of the most problematic aspects of contemporary communication. It is often described as a sudden shift in language, fostered by social media and the absence of filters. In Digital Whips. Hate Speech and Racism: Social Media to Educate and Punish , Luiz Valério P. Trindade distances himself from this reductive interpretation and offers a sociological analysis that restores historical depth and political substance to the phenomenon. The hate circulating on digital platforms, Trindade argues, did not originate with the web, but finds in the digital environment an environment capable of making it more visible, more reiterated, and, above all, more normalized.
The book thus moves beyond emergency and moralistic explanations. Social media is not treated as the cause of online racism, but as a space where pre-existing symbolic hierarchies are recirculated more effectively. From this perspective, hate speech is not simply a problem of language or civic education, but a social practice that produces concrete effects: it defines boundaries, assigns roles, and signals who can expose themselves without consequences and who, instead, pays a price for their visibility.
The normalization of hate in digital space
One of the most significant points in Trindade 's analysis concerns the process of normalization. Online hate is not only expressed through direct insults or explicit attacks, but takes shape in a myriad of everyday expressions: demeaning comments, recurring ironies, seemingly innocuous allusions. It is precisely this ordinary dimension that makes it socially effective. When symbolic violence becomes predictable and repetitive, it ceases to appear as an exception and begins to function as an implicit rule of public communication.
In Trindade's work, digital platforms emerge as spaces of social learning, where limits and hierarchies are internalized. Not because they explicitly "teach" hatred, but because they make a certain communicative register acceptable. The speed of interactions, the pursuit of visibility, and the logic of immediate reaction lower the social cost of speaking, helping to make aggression a normal part of interaction.
Irony and ambiguity as devices of power for Trindade
A particularly incisive passage in the book concerns the analysis of ambiguous forms of racism online. Trindade shows how irony and humor often function as a shield for discriminatory content. Jokes allow a person to say a lot without completely exposing themselves, always leaving open the possibility of retreating behind the idea of the joke.
This ambiguity creates a clear communication imbalance. The speaker can always deny the offensive intent, while the victim of the attack must choose between remaining silent or exposing themselves to further delegitimization. In this sense, hate speech is not only offensive because of what it says, but also because of what it makes it difficult to respond. Hate thus acts as a silencing technique , reducing the scope for some individuals to speak and making their participation in the digital public space more costly.
Who gets hit: An intersectional reading
One of the strongest aspects of Digital Whips is its focus on who becomes the target of online hate speech. Trindade 's analysis clearly shows that hate is not distributed randomly. Some groups are structurally more exposed, particularly Black women, who are positioned at the intersection of racialization, gender, and social visibility.
The intersectional approach allows us to understand why these very subjectivities become recurring targets. Online hate follows lines of power already established in offline society and tends to target those in more vulnerable social positions. Digital media, in this sense, does not level inequalities, but often accentuates them, transforming visibility into a form of exposure and, at times, symbolic punishment.
A story that continues in the present
Another strength of Luiz Valério P. Trindade 's book is the constant reference to the historical dimension. Online hate speech is linked to the legacy of colonialism, slavery, and the construction of whiteness, demonstrating how many of the representations circulating today on social media have deep roots. Digital media does not erase the past, but rather reactivates it in new forms.
From this perspective, social media can be interpreted as spaces of public display where punishment is not physical, but symbolic; it is not centralized, but widespread; it is not imposed from above, but practiced collectively. Hate implicitly educates, because it marks the boundaries of what can be expressed and contributes to reproducing a social order that appears natural only because it is historically entrenched.
Trindade's contribution to the contemporary debate
The value of Digital Whips lies in its ability to remove online hate speech from the banality with which it is often treated. Trindade doesn't propose quick fixes or regulatory shortcuts, but conceptual tools for understanding a complex phenomenon that spans communication, history, and power.
In a context where the habituation to violent language risks becoming the norm, Luiz Valério P. Trindade 's contribution offers a valuable insight into recognizing hate for what it is: not an inevitable noise on the web, but a social practice that can be analyzed, questioned, and, precisely for this reason, questioned.
References
- Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299.
- Giomi, E. (2025). Preface. In LVP Trindade, Digital Whips. Hate Speech and Racism: Social Media for Education and Punishment. Upside down.
- Nicita, A. (2025). In the age of hate. Bologna: The Mill.
- Pérez, R. (2017). Racism without hatred? Racist humor and the myth of colorblindness. Sociological Perspectives, 60 (5), 956–974.
- Sue, D.W., Capodilupo, C.M., Torino, G.C., et al. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life. American Psychologist, 62 (4), 271–286.
Lecturer in Communications and HR Management. Journalist with a degree in Sociology (cum laude). Editor-in-Chief of Sociologicamente.it.
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