Truth and reconciliation: New study finds people less likely to acknowledge war crimes on social media
MARCH 20, 2024
Editors' notes
by University of Exeter
Social media could prove to be as much a barrier to post-conflict reconciliation as it is a way of helping communities move forward, new research has claimed.
A study has found that there are clear differences between how people discuss the legacy of war in face-to-face situations compared to those interactions on platforms such as Facebook and X.
Fear of being stereotyped and judged by foreign nationals or a concern of being viewed as a 'bad ambassador' by compatriots, can lead to people becoming defensive and closed-off about issues such as war crimes committed by their own ethnic group.
The study, which examined attitudes to the Yugoslav war, and in particular the killing of 8,000 men and boys by the Bosnian Serb army at Srebrenica, could have important lessons with regard to the work of human rights activists who use social media to raise awareness of genocide and other atrocities.
More:
https://phys.org/news/2024-03-truth-reconciliation-people-acknowledge-war.html
