Internet and social media have opened up new arenas without borders for exchanging opinions and for developing access to freedom of speech. However, at the same time, online hate speech has been spread widely and frequently on the platforms. Conspiracy theories, violent, hateful and racist speech may cause fear, violence, and social conflict. As a consequence it can be the reason why people withdraw from the public debate.

Civil society, especially NGOs have been sounding the alarm for a long time. Their involvement in countering cyber hate phenomena is becoming increasingly important. The use of the existing tools of reporting proposed by the IT companies and the development of new strategies for tackling hate speech have been the key priorities. By monitoring and reporting, civil society and NGOs are playing a significant role for weakening the online presence of violent and hateful speech.

For improving this effort, new steps have been taken in Europe, as for example the Code of Conduct between major IT companies and European Commission. This Code has been welcomed, but the efforts must be maintained. In this report, to help those efforts, INACH would like to give some suggestions based on two concepts: transparency and simplification.

Published on 05-06-17