What three million online posts reveal about anti-First Nations hate in Australia
A new study examining online hate during the so-called March for Australia rallies found white supremacy was rife. But there are patterns we can see to help stop it.
A federal parliamentary inquiry is currently examining the roots of racism, hate, and violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, with a particular focus on the role of the internet. In recent years, several violent incidents, including attacks on Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne and an alleged bombing attempt during an Invasion Day rally in Perth, have highlighted this growing concern.
First Nations individuals and organizations have reported experiencing racism in various settings, including workplaces, schools, and online platforms.
Researchers at the Tackling Hate Lab analyzed over three million posts and news items related to the 2023 Voice referendum, Anzac Day 2025, and the March for Australia rallies in 2025. This data was gathered from social media platforms, news media, forums, and other online sources. The study employed Google's Perspective API, an AI model, to identify hateful language, and a custom AI model trained by First Nations community annotators to pinpoint anti-First Nations hate.
This distinction is crucial, as deciding what constitutes racism must take into account the targeted community's lived experiences.
Political events profoundly influence how hate towards First Nations Australians is expressed. During the Voice referendum campaign, hate speech increased steadily, from approximately 200 to 400 posts daily in early 2023 to about 3,600 posts per day in October 2023, just before the referendum. This pattern resembled a staircase rather than a sudden explosion, suggesting that political campaigns can create opportunities for hostile ideas to be expressed, repeated, and shared.
First Nations public figures faced significantly more racialized abuse than many non-Indigenous public figures with similar social media followings. Over a quarter of all posts mentioning then-Indigenous Australian Minister Linda Burney contained racial identity hate. Similarly, high-profile figures like Lidia Thorpe, Noel Pearson, and Adam Briggs also experienced a high rate of racially targeted abuse.
Hate speech does not always take the form of overt slurs. During the Voice campaign, nearly 89% of the detected hate focused on the referendum itself. The study found that First Nations community members categorized as hateful language that portrayed the Voice as a form of racial oppression of non-Indigenous people or denied the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization and racism.
In 2025, during Anzac Day and the March for Australia rallies, more than 96% of the hate detected directly targeted First Nations identity, with white supremacist claims and dehumanizing language making up almost 90% of the hateful posts.
Written by urgent.news from The Conversation AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
