Sentiment towards Migration during COVID-19: What Twitter Data Can Tell Us

This report discusses the essential findings and learnings from a collaborative research project with the University of Liverpool, investigating the use of Twitter data to track immigration sentiment during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the report will (a) demonstrate how immigrants have experienced acts of discrimination and racism in five countries (the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Germany); (b) determine to what extent (anti-)immigration sentiment has shifted in reaction to increasing geographical spreads and fatality rates of COVID-19; and (c) assess how acts of discrimination and racism towards immigrants during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic vary by country.