Initiative to Study Hate Partners with LA County on efforts to understand and mitigate identity-based hate
Over the past year, UCLA researchers from the Initiative to Study Hate (ISH) and the Bedari Kindness Institute (BKI) partnered with the LA County Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion (ARDI) Initiative on a collaborative effort examining online hate, youth social media use, and identity-based hate and violence (IBHV). A central goal of both ISH and BKI is not only to produce interdisciplinary research on hate and extremism, but also to ensure that research is publicly accessible and actionable so that it can have a meaningful impact beyond our university setting. The partnership between LA County and BKI/ISH sought to achieve this exact objective, connecting UCLA’s interdisciplinary research directly with policymakers, educators, and community leaders across Los Angeles County and translating academic research into public-facing education and practical conversations about how hate circulates across contemporary digital environments. As part of the collaboration, UCLA researchers developed and led a three-part public online training series focused on contemporary forms of online hate and on the perpetration of identity-based-hate.. The first session, “Landscape of Online Hate” (Cesi Cruz; Saadia Gabriel, Stuart Soroka), examined the structures of digital hate ecosystems, including algorithmic amplification, misinformation, virality, and the challenges of content moderation. The second session, “Social Media, IBHV, and Youth” (Josh Goetz, Kathryn Huether, Christine Ong), focused on youth social media use, cyberbullying, identity-based harms, and the ways hate circulates through contemporary platform cultures such as TikTok and Instagram. The final session, “Understanding the Perpetration of Hate” (Daniel Fessler, Aliza Luft, Howard Padwa, Aaron Panofsky) explored the broader psychological, social, and structural dynamics that contribute to hate ideologies and violence. Together, these trainings brought research from political science, sociology, psychology, computer science, media studies, sound studies, and public health into conversation with the lived realities facing Los Angeles communities today.
These conversations culminated on April 29 in a half-day symposium at UCLA that brought researchers, public officials, educators, advocates, and community leaders into direct dialogue around the challenges posed by contemporary hate and extremism. The symposium opened with remarks from D’Artagnan Scorza, Executive Director of LA County’s ARDI Initiative, and David Myers, Director of the BKI and ISH, who emphasized the importance of sustained collaboration between universities and public institutions as communities continue to confront evolving forms of hate in both digital and public life. Positioning the symposium not as an endpoint but as the beginning of continued partnership and dialogue, the event expanded upon themes introduced throughout the training series.
Following these introductory remarks, Cesi Cruz, Christine Ong, and Howard Padwa provided brief summaries of the trainings. The symposium then commenced with two panel discussions that joined LA County staff in conversation with BKI/ISH researchers, with the former reflecting on how online hate and identity-based hate shows up in the work they do. The first panel on online hate featured Jessica Brown, Anne Tremblay, Melisa Lima-Pfeciado, Saadia Gabriel, and Mark Lee, while the second, on the perpetration of identity-based hate, included Robin Toma, Norbert Tan, Aliza Luft, and Matthew Jackson. Particularly important was the inclusion of a student perspective, which offered critical insight into how younger users navigate online environments and experience identity-based harms in ways that are often difficult to capture through research or policy discussions alone.
After the panel discussions, attendees were divided into breakout groups, wherein each group was asked to think about how they might apply the knowledge from the trainings and panels into the work they do, and, more specifically, to brainstorm about cross-sector interventions. In this way, the in-person symposium created space for sustained dialogue across sectors, allowing researchers, public officials, educators, students, and community leaders to engage directly with one another’s experiences, concerns, and approaches to intervention against hate and violence.
Ultimately, the LA County and BKI/ISH collaboration reflected a shared commitment to addressing identity-based hate and violence through sustained partnerships among researchers, public institutions, educators, and local communities. The symposium demonstrated how cross-sector collaboration can translate research into public engagement, bringing together diverse forms of expertise to confront the evolving realities of online hate and violence.
