Academic Studies
This resource section has leant heavily on the "Platform companies and news media" section of the reading list curated by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.
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This resource section has leant heavily on the "Platform companies and news media" section of the reading list curated by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.
Last updated
Was this helpful?
The campaign message is positive and pro-active; it is a campaign for freedom of expression online. It also takes a clear stance against all forms of racism and discrimination online. Young people from groups including victims of online hate speech – such as refugees and asylum-seekers, Muslims, LGBT and Roma – will play an important role in the campaign. While it is relatively common in mainstream society to condemn hate speech, including online hate speech, closer study suggests that this mainstream consensus is not well implemented. Starting with the definition of hate speech itself and the issue of striking a balance between freedom of speech, freedom from hatred or fear and the protection of children and young people, there is currently a lack of clarity on how mainstream opposition to hate speech can be put into practice.
The project was conceived in response to and as a bulwark against the worrying rise of hate speech online. Central to the project’s philosophy is the idea that online public space should be subject to the same expectations regarding human rights as physical public space; human rights apply online just as they apply to the rest of society. In preparation for the project, the Council of Europe’s Youth Department commissioned three “mapping” studies about the realities of hate speech in relation to young people and the existing projects and cam-paigns on the subject. They are published in this book as resources for the activists, youth leaders, research-ers, partners and decision-makers associated with the project and for the online campaign at national and European level.
To understand how digital technologies went from instruments for spreading democracy to weapons for attacking it, you have to look beyond the technologies themselves.