Online communities are intended to exchange ideas and discuss particular interests, trends, or products. But sometimes these open discussion forums can turn into hostile and toxic environments. In sociology, this phenomenon is referred to as “brutalization.” An international research team led by Marius Lüdicke (WU Vienna), Kristine De Valck (HEC Paris), and Olivier Sibai (University of London) investigated why some digital communities descend into insults, hostility, or structural violence.

Results

Short-term outbreaks of verbal aggression in the form of insults, harassment, or trolling are widespread in online communities. But until recently we didn’t really have a clear picture of why such behavior sometimes becomes chronic and ends up poisoning entire communities.

To answer this question, the researchers analyzed 18 years of interactions in an online electronic dance music community. The results show that differences in the extent of violence and hostility in consumer communities are not random but related to specific community types:

• Sadistic entertainment: Aggression becomes a tool for entertainment. This occurs particularly in hedonistic communities focused on fun and thrills (e.g. gaming or music forums on Discord, Reddit, or Twitch).

• Clan wars: These are systematic group feuds waged by different factions. Clan wars develop primarily in homogeneous communities with a strong sense of community and clear norms. New, deviant practices are often met with status anxiety, devaluation, or hostility (e.g. in cooking or open-source communities).

• Popular justice: Community-driven punishment rituals typically arise in large, easily accessible, and difficult-to-moderate communities that are run by consumers themselves.

However, the authors of the study emphasize that brutalization can also occur in environments that, at first glance, may appear less prone to toxic behavior, such as parenting forums, where communities sometimes develop a culture of exclusion instead of mutual support.

The study contributes to the further development of theories about violence in consumer communities and opens up new perspectives for better understanding the dynamics of large-scale social networks.

• Video (04:48 minutes) “Online Hate: When Digital Communities turn Toxic | Meet Our Researchers: Marius Lüdicke”: wu.at/pressrelease-luedicke-more

• Download the study:

  Olivier Sibai, Marius K Luedicke, Kristine de Valck, Why Online Consumption Communities Brutalize, Journal of Consumer Research, Volume 51, Issue 4, December 2024, Pages 775–796

About the authors:

• Marius K. Lüdicke, Professor of Marketing in a Global Economy, WU Vienna

• Olivier Sibai, Lecturer in Marketing, Birkbeck, University of London

• Kristine De Valck, Professor of Marketing, HEC Paris

Press contact:

Mag. Christina Maria Bachmaier
Science Communication 
Tel: +43-1-313-36-4973
Email: christina.bachmaier@wu.ac.at