Hate Speech Online
Online hate speech threatens the values we seek to protect—namely, the protection of minors, the protection of users, the protection of human dignity, and diversity in the media.
One of our key tasks is to safeguard these values, which is why we are committed to raising awareness and finding effective ways to combat hate crimes on the internet.
What makes hate speech so dangerous for our society?
Hate speech is often excused with the phrase, “Surely we’re still allowed to say that!” And in doing so, people who promote their views online through hate and incitement invoke their right to freedom of speech.
Of course, this right applies to everyone: to those who incite hatred just as much as to the victims of that incitement. Hate speech becomes dangerous for our society when one person’s incitement restricts another’s freedom of speech. The heated discussion can lead to people no longer daring to express their opinions out of fear of hateful reactions from others, and to newsrooms avoiding entire topics or closing their comment sections because they feel unable to cope with the uncivilized debate.
This is exactly where our efforts come in.
What can be done to combat hate speech?
Through the regular collection data, we monitor the development and perception of hate speech. It is striking that this issue is perceived as increasingly problematic every year.
There are various forms of hate speech, each of which must be addressed in different ways: Hate speech that poisons discourse requires, above all, moderation by editorial teams, who must take decisive action against hateful comments and restore civility to the debate. Our guide and training materials are helpful in this regard.
Criminal hate speech, on the other hand, must be deleted by the content provider; however, the user spreading hate usually remains unaware of this and is not even conscious of their wrongdoing. For this reason, the State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (Landesanstalt für Medien NRW) is also advocating for “Prosecution Instead of Just Deletion,” which aims not only to delete comments that are illegal but also to pursue them through administrative and criminal proceedings.