Pile-ons are sudden waves of hateful comments and insults on social media, often triggered by a current event. One example is the case of the German parliament member Helge Lindh: following his committed actions during the catastrophic floods of 2021, a derisive article in an opinion magazine provoked a massive assault of hateful messages. This pile-on was largely driven by just a few accounts and originated among the right-wing and extreme right movements. The aim was clearly to intimidate Helge Lindh, discredit his political activity and damage his reputation.

Distortions in public perception and media coverage can happen quickly if audiences assume that the quantity of comments represents an equally large group. A glance at the data shows us that pile-ons are not always as big as they appear to be. And the vast majority of users, who express their opinions calmly and rationally, fade into the background in the face of such concentrated hate speech.