Gretchen Nihill, Chanel Meyers
ABSTRACT Online confrontations to prejudice can meaningfully shape experiences of racism online for minoritized individuals. We investigate whether confrontation can also operate as an identity safety cue (ISC) within online spaces. In Study 1, we examined the effects of confronter group membership and their confrontation style on Asian Americans’ (n = 136) sense of safety, hurt, and offensiveness when viewing confrontations of explicitly racist statements made towards Asian Americans online. In Study 2, we examined the effects of confronter group membership, confrontation style, and their motivation on Asian Americans' (n = 218) perceptions of the confronter. While racist posts accompanied by assertive confrontations led participants to report greater offensiveness and hurt around the transgression, Asian American participants reported greater comfort with assertive confronters and perceived them as being more aware of social justice, as well as more willing to confront on behalf of other marginalized groups.