# Dialogues of Dissent: Thematic and Rhetorical Dimensions of Hate and Counter-Hate Speech in Social Media Conversations

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.20528 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.20528/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 15 of its 33 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 28 Jul 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 15 of 15)

- [Automated Hate Speech Detection and the Problem of Offensive Language](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.04009/) (2017)
- [HateXplain: A Benchmark Dataset for Explainable Hate Speech Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.10289/) (2020)
- [Large Scale Crowdsourcing and Characterization of Twitter Abusive Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.00393/) (2018)
- [Learning from the Worst: Dynamically Generated Datasets to Improve Online Hate Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.15761/) (2020)
- [Latent Hatred: A Benchmark for Understanding Implicit Hate Speech](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.05322/) (2021)
- [A Benchmark Dataset for Learning to Intervene in Online Hate Speech](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.04251/) (2019)
- [Understanding Abuse: A Typology of Abusive Language Detection Subtasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.09899/) (2017)
- [CONAN -- COunter NArratives through Nichesourcing: a Multilingual Dataset of Responses to Fight Online Hate Speech](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.03270/) (2019)
- [Thou shalt not hate: Countering Online Hate Speech](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.04409/) (2018)
- [Spread of hate speech in online social media](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.01693/) (2018)
- [Peer to Peer Hate: Hate Speech Instigators and Their Targets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.04649/) (2018)
- [CounterGeDi: A controllable approach to generate polite, detoxified and emotional counterspeech](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.04304/) (2022)
- [Hate Speech Criteria: A Modular Approach to Task-Specific Hate Speech Definitions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.15455/) (2022)
- [Which Argumentative Aspects of Hate Speech in Social Media can be reliably identified?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.02978/) (2023)
- [Factoring Hate Speech: A New Annotation Framework to Study Hate Speech in Social Media](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.03969/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We introduce a novel multi-labeled scheme for joint annotation of hate and counter-hate speech in social media conversations, categorizing hate and counter-hate messages into thematic and rhetorical dimensions. The thematic categories outline different discursive aspects of each type of speech, while the rhetorical dimension captures how hate and counter messages are communicated, drawing on Aristotle's Logos, Ethos and Pathos. We annotate a sample of 92 conversations, consisting of 720 tweets, and conduct statistical analyses, incorporating public metrics, to explore patterns of interaction between the thematic and rhetorical dimensions within and between hate and counter-hate speech. Our findings provide insights into the spread of hate messages on social media, the strategies used to counter them, and their potential impact on online behavior.