#Welcome Refugees & “Welcome Refugees”: Reinforcement of the conspiracy theory about Eurabia and promotion of hate speech after the attacks in Annecy (France)

Abstract

This paper was presented at the I International Workshop on Conspiracy theories and hate speech online: Comparison of patterns in narratives and social media about Covid 19, immigrants, refugees and LGTBIQ+ people. Universidad de Huelva, July 12 14, 2023 (https://eventos.uhu.es/99642/detail/i-international-workshop-nonconspirahate-project.html).

On June 8, 2023, a violent assault in Le Pâquier park, Annecy, France, resulted in several children and an adult being stabbed and seriously injured. This event sparked intense activity on social networks, with widespread denouncement, anger, rejection, and support for the victims. This study investigates the shift in narratives from #welcomerefugees to "Welcome Refugees" following the attack, comparing terms like #welcomerefugees, "welcome refugees," and "refugees welcome" on Twitter. It also explores the dissemination of the Eurabia conspiracy theory in this context. Using a mixed-methods approach, data was collected from June 2-16, 2023, and January 1, 2020, to June 8, 2023, resulting in 1,183,037 tweets. Preliminary findings indicate high emotional intensity in narratives, highlighting the importance of metaphors, irony, and opportunistic use of terms post-attack. The paper is part of the I+D+i Project titled "Conspiracy Theories and Hate Speech Online: Comparison of Patterns in Narratives and social networks about COVID-19, immigrants, refugees, and LGBTI people [NON-CONSPIRA-HATE!]", PID2021-123983OB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and by "ERDF/EU." (https://eseis.es/investigacion/discursos-de-odio/discursos-odio-tc). We are also grateful for the support of our research group: "Estudios Sociales E Intervención Social" (GrupoESEIS), and the research center "Pensamiento Contemporáneo e Innovación para el Desarrollo Social" (COIDESO), and the Applied Computational Social Science Lab, CISCOA-Lab, at the University of Huelva.