A new report released today by Hope and Courage Collective has found that social media platforms are playing a significant role in amplifying anti-Muslim hatred in Ireland.
This raises urgent questions about how recommender systems are spreading harmful content during incidents targeting minority communities, including celebrating violence, calling for murder and damage to property. This content remains online.
The report, The Islamophobia Playbook: A Project of Hate, examines anti-Muslim incidents in 2026 and presents an in-depth case study of role of social media in the alleged arson attack on the Al Madinah Prayer Hall (Talbot Street Mosque) in Dublin.
Researchers found that a Facebook video showing the aftermath of the attack was viewed more than 1.9 million times – approximately 352 times greater than the account’s normal audience.
Analysis of more than 10,600 comments and emojis found that one in five contained anti-Muslim hate, support for the alledged attack, calls for further mosque burnings, violence against Muslims, or other forms of incitement.
Speaking on the publication of the report, Mark Malone, Research Lead with Hope and Courage Collective said, “The findings of this research are extremely worrying.
“The public, in particular the Muslim community, needs clarity on how Facebook’s recommender systems turn attacks on places of worship into viral content that normalises this event and calls for more violence”.
The research also found that discussion of the mosque attack rapidly spread across X, generating more than 112,000 online mentions from 70,000 unique accounts and reaching an estimated 243 million accounts within six days.
Nearly 90% of online discussion originated outside Ireland, highlighting the increasingly transnational nature of online anti-Muslim narratives.
Malone said,”That level of international amplification should concern anyone responsible for the safety of our online spaces. Ireland is now a source of content for international far-right influencers”.
Findings show that social media platforms are failing to apply their own community standards as harmful content is amplified at moments of crisis and remains online today.
Malone said “Copy and paste statements from Meta about how it does not allow hate speech on its platforms do nothing to address the reality that it does.
“Meta also needs to specifically answer why it continues to host calls for further attacks on mosques and calls for violence against the Muslim community”.
Mr Malone concluded “Fundamentally, Meta must demonstrate transparently how their systems are assessing and mitigating systemic risks created by their own recommender systems”.
Hope and Courage Collective is calling on Coimisiún na Meán to engage with Meta to publish an incident-specific risk assessment explaining how they responded to the Al Madinah Prayer Hall (Talbot Street Mosque) Arson Attack.
The report further recommends implementing the Oireachtas Joint Committee recommendation to turn off recommender systems by default, alongside stronger enforcement of the Prohibition of Incitement To Hatred Act 1989 in response to incidents involving anti-Muslim hate and incitement to violence.