The 2025 Annual Report of the Center for Monitoring and Countering Hate Speech at Masarat Foundation revealed significant developments in Iraq’s digital landscape, documenting an ongoing struggle between the organized “engineering of hate” designed to deepen social divisions and a growing civil society and academic movement working to protect pluralism and civic space.
The report presented key indicators showing that democratic stability remains under pressure. The monthly rate of hate speech reached 74% of the monitored sample, compared to 60% in the previous year.
The analysis found that hate speech is no longer merely spontaneous; it has become highly organized. Coordinated campaigns accounted for 48% of all hate speech, driven primarily by electronic networks linked to political actors, which represented the leading source of incitement at 35%.
Despite these concerning trends, the report also identified unprecedented positive developments, including the growing ability of the public to distinguish manipulated content and the emergence of a significant segment of neutral and rejecting engagement toward inflammatory discourse.
The report highlighted the role of specific groups and individuals described as the true “frontline of resistance” against the erosion of civic space. It praised members of the academic community for transforming hate speech from a purely emotional online reaction into a subject of rigorous scholarly analysis, helping expose the mechanisms and strategies behind incitement.
The report also emphasized the remarkable contribution of bloggers and digital content creators who promoted a narrative of diversity as a national strength. In particular, it recognized initiatives that presented alternative human-centered narratives capable of challenging exclusionary stereotypes.
In addition, the report documented the significant role played by human rights advocates who helped reduce the intensity of “intersectional hate” by emphasizing the protection of cultural identities as an essential component of democratic stability.
The report concluded that although 2025 was marked by the sophisticated “engineering of hate,” it also witnessed the emergence of an intelligent civic resistance.
While coordinated electronic networks continue attempting to restrict civic space, these individuals and initiatives are expanding it through knowledge, art, and documentation, making the battle for digital awareness one of the most important guarantees of social peace in Iraq.
