The current coronavirus pandemic has originates from China and analysts are reporting a growing wave of online anti-Chinese sentiment as a result. Things probably weren’t helped by Donald Trump referring to the covid-19 outbreak as the ‘China virus’. Israeli startup L1ght tracks online hate speech and cyberbullying and reports it has seen a 900% increase in abuse targeting Asian people since the outbreak began. Obviously, given the lockdown there are far more people online inhabiting social media and messaging forums but the findings are nonetheless shocking. ‘Much of this hate and abuse is being directed towards China and its population, as well as individuals of Asian origin in other parts of the world,’ the report explains. ‘Toxic tweets are using explicit language to accuse Asians of carrying the coronavirus and blaming people of Asian origin as a collective for spreading the virus.’ (Text and photo courtesy Metro)
Cyberbullying against Asians skyrockets 900%, report claims
