Online threats to mayors investigated by Utrecht Data School

Mayors in the Netherlands are facing a growing number of threats, aggression and violence. In cooperation with the National Unit, the Utrecht Data School has investigated in which context and through which communication channels threats occur. The team used automatic text analysis and scanned Twitter messages addressed to mayors. However, this method proved to be too limited to determine the number of threats to mayors. The researchers are now starting a follow-up study.

Three contexts

The researchers were able to distinguish three different contexts in which officials are threatened. Each of the contexts requires a different perspective, risk assessment and approach. "The hostile tone towards elected representatives on social media is unacceptable and undermines the political debate in an open society such as ours," the researchers conclude. The results of the study were recently published in the WODC report Aard en omvang van dader- en slachtofferschap van cyber- en gedigitaliseerde criminaliteit in Nederland.

Involved researchers

Dr Mirko Schaefer (Media and Performance Studies), Max Boiten (Media and Performance Studies), Sander Prins (ICT & Media), Marjolein Krijgsman (Utrecht Data School) and Joris Veerbeek (Utrecht Data School) are involved from Utrecht University. All of them also work for the Utrecht Data School and are part of the focus area Governing the Digital Society.

Read the full article in Dutch here.