Unpacking uncivil society: Incivility and intolerance in the 2018 Irish abortion referendum discussions on Twitter

Abstract In the era of rising populist sentiment, deep social and political polarisations, a growing crisis online harms, numerous scholars share concern about impact such uncivil forces on health liberal democracy. This article argues that we should first normatively distinguish between incivility intolerance. We contend core problem society is intolerance, not incivility. then empirically analyse intolerance during 2018 Irish abortion referendum its discussions Twitter by conducting content analysis qualitative textual 3,000 tweets posted April June 2018. The results show despite selecting highly emotive polarised issue, do dominate Twittersphere. Furthermore, gender position users were found to be associated with use which increased as approached.