Sexist hate speech against young girls is spread through comments on news reports on social media, which are fertile ground for the development of gender-based malicious and disturbing content. Such content is usually created in response to the news reports, so the role of the media and their reporting is significant for their prevention, and especially the regulation of comments on news reports on social media.

This is shown by the analysis of gender-based content “Sexist hate speech against young girls”, developed by the Institute of Communication Studies. The research analyzed over 1,500 comments on news reports on Facebook that reported on two cases – the two missing girls in Chair and the two missing girls in Centar, between March and May 2023. These cases were selected because of the content of the comments they provoked on social media.

The media analysis was made in the framework of the project “Fact-Based Journalism for Raising Awareness and Countering Disinformation in the Media Space in North Macedonia”, which is implemented with the support of the British Embassy in Skopje.