Testing Hypotheses from the Social Approval Theory of Online Hate: An Analysis of 110 Million Posts from Parler

In this paper, we explored how online hate is motivated by receiving social approval from others. We specifically examined two central tenets of Walther's (2024) social approval theory of online hate: (H1a) more signals of social approval on hate messages predicts more subsequent hate messages, and (H1b) as social approval increases, hate speech messages become more extreme. Using over 110 million posts from Parler (2018-2021), we observed that the number of upvotes a person received on a hate speech post was unassociated with the amount of hate speech in their next post and posts during the next week, month, three months, and six months. Between-person effects revealed an average negative relationship between social approval and hate speech production at the post level, but this relationship was mixed at other time intervals. Social approval reinforcement mechanisms of online hate may operate differently on niche social media platforms.