The aim of this study was to explore the relationship of online incivility and political violence in Zambia. The study used the 2018 Chilanga Constituency by-election campaign messages and those of the 2019 Sesheke constituency to examine the problem. The study drew from the simulation effects (that communication with dissimilar others can encourage incivility and hate online) to assert that political elite campaign messages contribute to incivility/hate and subsequent violence during elections in Zambia. This assumption was tested using 5844 data points collected from various social media platforms owned or purported to be owned by either the Patriotic Front (PF) or the United Party for National Development (UPND) party. The findings support the paper’s hypotheses, and additional analyses suggest that men are more likely to practice incivility online than women. Second, findings suggest that while the PF party’s online platforms exhibit higher trends of partisanship, the UPND tend to privilege tribal affiliations.

中文翻译：

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赞比亚的在线不文明行为、仇恨言论和政治暴力：审视在线政治竞选信息的作用

本研究的目的是探讨赞比亚的网络不文明行为与政治暴力之间的关系。该研究使用 2018 年 Chilanga 选区补选竞选信息和 2019 年 Sesheke 选区的信息来研究这个问题。该研究从模拟效果（与不同的其他人的交流会鼓励在线无礼和仇恨）得出结论，认为政治精英竞选信息会导致赞比亚选举期间的无礼/仇恨和随后的暴力。使用从爱国阵线 (PF) 或国家发展联合党 (UPND) 党拥有或声称拥有的各种社交媒体平台收集的 5844 个数据点对这一假设进行了测试。研究结果支持了论文的假设，其他分析表明，男性比女性更有可能在网上进行无礼行为。其次，调查结果表明，虽然 PF 党的在线平台表现出更高的党派倾向，但 UPND 倾向于优先考虑部落关系。