by some accounts appear to have more hate speech in the comments than others, even when the content of the posts is the same or carries positive content. For example: We examined posts with news coverage about the same event, the “White Rose campaign” which sought to promote religious freedom and inter-faith coexistence, posted by BBC and Myanmar Now. Posts from BBC had relatively higher comments with negative views against the campaign, while posts Myanmar Now had an approximately equal weight of positive and negative comments. Interpretations There are at least three ways to interpret the correlation between the nature of the original anchoring post and the nature of the comments that attach to it. One is that the original anchoring post may serve as an inspiration; especially with the case in which the anchoring post included heartwarming content, it may have encouraged and provided space for people of marginalized identities to echo more confidently in similar voices or views. Under such posts with a high volume of positive comments, threads of hate-speech comments attacking a positive comment were relatively fewer; and even when that happened, many more positive comments stepped in to counter them. A second possibility is that the relation between the original post and the kinds of comments that follow it are influenced by the Facebook algorithm, which determines what posts people see. It may be that posts are mostly seen by those likely to agree with their message. This could explain why comments seem to reverberate the original sentiment. A person who disagrees with the original post, and thus might be likely to comment under it with some expression of disagreement, may be less likely to ever see the post at all. This might also explain why anchor posts from news outlets included both hate speech and counter-speech: posts from such outlets might be seen by a wider array of people. Comparison of comment threads under posts about the same news story by two different media organizations raises a third possible interpretation: that there are ongoing efforts to target some accounts and some kinds of posts. In comparing comment threads under news stories about the “White Rose” campaign from the BBC and Myanmar Now, we noted a much higher volume and proportion of hate speech in comments on the BBC post. Thus the appearance of patterns may also be created by deliberate efforts, i.e. high volume of negative trolls, that might not otherwise be there. Implications The presence of deliberate targeting, coupled by the way the Facebook algorithm works, can make certain accounts or pages susceptible to receiving high volume of negative comments, pushing aside positive counter speech or a diversity of views. When the anchor posts set a negative tone to open discussion in the comments, counter speech, even though it exists under such posts, may also find it challenging in the sea of negative comments to find solidarity or 8