Researching hate speech online: Exploring the potential and limitations of Facebook as a survey tool in Africa

As part of a broader research program, we sought to conduct surveys with social media users in several African countries to gauge their definitional understandings of online hate and mis/disinformation; awareness of content moderation processes; and flagging/reporting. The challenge, however, was how to conduct survey research in difficult-to-reach places, some of which are affected by violent conflict, and within a limited budget. Social media platforms present unique opportunities for researchers to recruit participants in these contexts. These platforms show promise in reaching participants who would otherwise be unreachable, but they pose significant limitations as well. Given that our aim was to reach social media users, we used Facebook to advertise our survey, drawing on the breadth of research on using the platform as a research tool and the fact it has a large user base in the targeted countries. In this article, we explore the practicalities, challenges, and limitations of Facebook as a tool for survey research in African countries.