Racism and Hate Speech Against Ecuadorian Indigenous Peoples: A Study in Algorithmic Environments

Abstract

Structural offline racism, which Ecuadorian Indigenous peoples have historically suffered since colonial times, has migrated to social media, where it carries an even more virulent charge through hate speech. The most significant surges have occurred during recent national protests led by Indigenous organizations, as well as due to the increasingly active participation of Indigenous representatives in Ecuador’s democratic elections.

In this study, 30 posts from the social network X were selected, all of which contain elements that, at first glance, can be classified as racist and discriminatory. With the assistance of artificial intelligence tools (ChatGPT and Grok), these posts were examined more thoroughly using a mixed-method approach, combining sentiment analysis and semantic analysis.

The results showed that the comments and discourse against Indigenous peoples contained a total of 65 negative sentiments. Additionally, there was a predominance of words and phrases referring to historical and cultural stereotypes, as well as demeaning and devaluing language directed at the Indigenous peoples and nationalities of Ecuador.

The analysis confirmed that a pejorative and discriminatory discourse is still being wielded against Indigenous groups in the country—one that refuses to acknowledge their presence in the national political landscape and rejects their legitimacy as political actors capable of assuming important roles in the nation.