In this section, we analyze the online behavior of various far-left communities using Perspective API models. Our goal is to understand toxicity levels and other indicators in posts made by so-called tankies compared to other communities.
Perspective API. The Perspective API is a tool used to measure toxicity in online conversations. Despite its limitations, such as biases in detecting untrained conversation patterns, it remains a useful large-scale reference for comparing online communities. The API evaluates various factors through six production models: TOXICITY, SEVERE_TOXICITY, INSULT, IDENTITY_ATTACK, THREAT, and PROFANITY. In our analysis, we consider a threshold of 0.8 as an indicator of high toxicity, following previous studies.
Results. Our findings show that tankies tend to score higher on all Perspective API models compared to other far-left communities. In particular, they have the highest average scores in IDENTITY_ATTACK and THREAT, and the second highest in TOXICITY, SEVERE_TOXICITY, INSULT, and PROFANITY. Additionally, compared to a representative sample of Reddit posts, all far-left communities significantly exceed toxicity levels.
Using statistical tests, we confirmed significant differences in score distribution between tankies and other communities. This indicates that tankies generate posts with higher levels of insults, identity attacks, and threats. Furthermore, we found that tankies often mention entities related to the U.S., public figures, and nationalities in highly toxic posts. Specifically, we observed that religious and ethnic groups, such as Muslims and Jews, are the most attacked by this community.
Conclusions. Our analyses highlight that tankies record the highest levels of identity attacks and threats within far-left communities. They also rank second in terms of overall toxicity and insults. Although their focus is not exclusively on U.S. politics, their posts reflect strong opinions on events, political figures, and conspiracy theories related to the country.
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