A case study of Twitter/X quotes (or tweets) on the Three Waters political reform used deductive analysis to identify forms of anti-Māori discourse. Results revealed distinct and interconnected themes (“resources”, “culture”, “stirrer”, “privilege,” and “one people”) that portrayed Māori as undeserving, lacking expertise, threatening and unworthy of equitable treatment. Problematic reasoning tactics were employed by anti-Māori speakers to obstruct the public from understanding the truth, and to encourage others to generate ill-informed opinions. The study authors stated that their findings make the case for addressing racism on social media, and for creating interventions to improve media literacy amongst the general public.
