Hate speech, extremism and social media 31 July 2018
3 quick definitions and a touch of history
What is Violent Extremism? Violent extremism rejects the principles and values upon which a peaceful society is founded, instead espousing violence, terror and coercion as a mechanism of change and realising specific beliefs and vision of society. The Commonwealth CVE Strategy
What is Hate Speech? Hate speech covers all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, antisemitism or other forms of hatred based on intolerance, including: intolerance expressed by aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism, discrimination and hostility against minorities, migrants and people of immigrant origin. Council of Europe
Media and Social Media? Media: The main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing) regarded collectively. Oxford Dictionary Social Media: Forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos). Websters In essence, today all media is social media
Media and Violent Extremism 19 th Century Gypsies and Anarchists On Paper
Media and Violent Extremism 20th Century Racists, Revolutionaries and Radicals On Television
Media and Violent Extremism 21st Century Terrorism / Violent extremism Online
Traditionally you had to go and look for extremist propaganda, buy the magazine or turn on the TV – But Today its in the palm of your hand There is now an online element to the majority of terrorist and extremist plots. Online content is playing a key role in spreading hate speech and radicalising people to commit violent extremist acts.
what is it, how does it happen and what to do about it
Hate Speech and Extremism:
Hate Speech and Extremism: How does it happen Hate speech occurs in the context of unequal social and power • relations which are not easily identifiable. Hate speech seeks to reinforce hierarchical relations between • groups that are established on the basis of social norms. • Hate speech predominantly targets groups and individuals whose position in society is subordinated to others. Common targets tend to be LGBT; Muslims; women; immigrants and ethnic minorities; Roma; Jewish; poor people; people with disabilities; and Christians and other religious minorities. Youth are targeted just as much as other age groups, but due to • their vulnerability and the fact that they are more exposed to online environments, hate speech generally has more of an effect on them.
Selected Push and Pull Factors Push Factors Pull Factors or Positive Attractions Individual grievances (e.g. Sense of purpose, empowerment & experience of harassment, poverty) control Collective grievances (e.g. lack of Sense of identity political rights) Absence of alternatives Acquiring/using skills Conscription Social acceptance and social approval Family/social/peer pressure Status Psychological conditioning Charismatic leadership Failures of governance Altruism/vicarious action Sense of threat (cultural, physical, Protection of self/family political) Material rewards
Hate Speech: The challenge of balancing freedom and protection • Intolerance and ‘hate’ have been around since the beginning of time. • Freedom of speech is an enshrined liberal democratic value – but we must guard against it breeding intolerance and hatred. • The internet, and social media in particular, has provided a megaphone to cottage industry radicals. • In recent years, the speed and scale of the internet has resulted in a increase in these attitudes and attitudes fuel violence.
Hate Speech: The challenge of balancing freedom and protection Each social media platform defines its terms of use as a privately • owned company, without influence from politicians and states. Major platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and • YouTube have a mixed record on hate speech & extremism regulation due to traditions on freedom of expression. This situation may be changing given recent scandals around • manipulation of public perceptions and election interference, but its still not a strong response. Social media platforms do not monitor hate speech itself, most now • have protocols to address reported cases. Reports have to be flagged by the users as problematic, and • uncategorised forms of hate speech are more unlikely to be removed from social media platforms.
Hate Speech & Extremism: Youth Action In this context, the role of the public (especially young people) is • extremely important in combating hate speech. Young people are citizens online, which means they can express their • aspirations and concerns online, take action, and hold accountable those who violate human rights online. Young people can be human rights defenders online. • Combat hate speech by discrediting and deconstructing violent • narratives that justify it, whilst putting forward non-exclusionary views of the world. Counter and alternative narratives need to be socially and culturally • specific. They need to connect with people’s understandings and the contexts of • their lives, by creating new meanings and relating to their emotions and needs.
Hate Speech & Extremism: Youth Action - cont • It is important for young people to be aware of what is happening in their environment. • Educate themselves about the drivers of hate speech and extremism in their social network AND about the key elements of human rights. • Make a conscious decision not to allow purveyors of hate speech and extremism to ‘get away with it’. • Be smart about it – don’t fall into the trap of sinking to their level. • Humour, satire and appealing to people’s emotions are very effective tools.
Youth Action: Speed is the key The speed of dissemination is • the key factor. Research shows that • approximately a third of all links to ISIS/ Daesh propaganda are disseminated within an hour of release. • The be effective in countering the threat of hate speech and online radicalisation and propaganda, Commonwealth Countries must have a robust and fast response plan in place – The key is cooperation with the online platforms
Youth Action : Its not just the BIG 4
Hate Speech & Extremism: Youth Action - cont Work together with others in your social network – • collective action is always better than individual action. Work with Civil Society Organisations, and other • International Partners like the Commonwealth, The UN and others. Work with the platforms – large and small – hold them • accountable to their terms and conditions and engage with them positively in highlighting and exposing hate speech and extremism online
International Strategies and Approaches
The Global Internet Forum for Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) GIFCT was founded in June 2017 by Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Twitter on the • principles of: • Employing and leveraging technology; • Sharing knowledge, information and best practices; • Conducting and funding research. • The realization by the UN that measures to combat terrorism on tech platforms are expensive and time-consuming to employ resulted in a strive for such initiatives. • There are strong ties between GIFCT and Tech Against Terrorism (TAT), a UN-mandated ICT4Peace initiative which helps tech companies to prevent their platforms from being exploited by terrorists, whilst still respecting human rights. • TAT also works with the global sector to share best practice within the tech industry and with governments through policy, guidelines, learning materials. Practical workshops and tools. TAT advocates industry self-regulation as well as a more coherent and systematic • approach to fighting terrorism online. The collaboration of TAT and GIFCT has led to the launch of the Knowledge Sharing • Platform (KSP) and the Data Science Network (DNS)
The Knowledge Sharing Platform (KSP ) and the Data Science Network (DSN) KSP was launched by GIFCT , UN CTED and the Republic of Korea in order to account for the • fact that smaller tech companies might need additional support to build their capacity to protect their platforms. As public-private partnerships are very important in battling the terrorist exploitation of • technology, comprehensive solutions that reflect freedom of speech are necessary, and it has been found that counter-narrative messaging is much more useful in this respect than removing or censoring content. KSP contains risk assessment tools, sanction lists, and recommendations on terms of • Service, content regulation, and transparency reporting as well as a range of short, practical guides for companies to help explain the threat, the response from the technology industry, and recommendations for practical implementation. The most important aspect to the KSP is the fact that it allows big tech companies, such as • google, which possess a lot of knowledge to share it through a formal network. • DSN was launched in March 2018 and convenes experts to promote practical ways to deploy data-driven approaches in identifying and tackling terrorist use of internet technologies.
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