Hate speech detection in social media: Techniques, recent trends, and future challenges

Abstract The realm of Natural Language Processing and Text Mining has seen a surge in interest from researchers in hate speech detection, leading to an increase in related studies. This analysis aims to create a valuable resource by summarizing the methods and strategies used to combat hate speech in social media. We perform a detailed review to achieve a deep knowledge of the hate speech detection landscape from 2018 to 2023, revealing global incidents of hate speech in 2022–2023. Sixty‐six relevant articles were selected for this review. Existing studies were analyzed and categorized into five method categories: Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Ensemble models, Graph Neural Networks, and Graph Convolutional Networks. These advancements can aid social networking services in identifying hate messages before being posted, reducing the risk of harassment. The review also covers available hate speech datasets and highlights research challenges, but it is clear that a definitive solution to this problem is yet to be found. Future research directions are recommended to address the ongoing challenges in Hate Speech Detection. This article is categorized under: Applications of Computational Statistics > Computational Linguistics Statistical Learning and Exploratory Methods of the Data Sciences > Knowledge Discovery Statistical Learning and Exploratory Methods of the Data Sciences > Classification and Regression Trees (CART) Statistical Learning and Exploratory Methods of the Data Sciences > Text Mining