Module 5

5.1 What is online hate speech?

“The internet has become an important vehicle for promoting racism and intolerance.”
ECRI annual report, 2015

The Council of Europe defines hate speech as covering“all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism 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.” 

The No Hate Ninja Project - A Story About Cats, Unicorns and Hate Speech video below provides more background information on what online hate speech is, how it relates to freedom of speech, and how we can effectively respond to it:

Within this context, the phenomenon of “online” hate speech is broadly acknowledged as a growing problem across and beyond Europe. The internet has become an important vehicle for promoting racism and intolerance. Hate speech through social media is rapidly increasing and has the potential to reach a much larger audience than extremist print media were able to reach. As discussed in previous modules, because of its anonymous nature, people are also likely to say things online which they would not say in person.

Childnet – member of the UK Safer Internet Centre – conducted an online survey on online hate speech for Safer Internet Day 2016 in the United Kingdom. An overwhelming 82% of 13-18s said they have seen something hateful on the internet about a certain group in the last year, which made them angry (37%), sad (34%) or shocked (30%).

https://padlet.com/eunacademy/lhnegiup6lnz

My post in the padlet:

"Till now, I haven't encountered such an incident in the school. But, I have read many posts about hate speech, seen many videos with victims of hate speech and have met many tweets with hate speech. I loved the video above (one of the best for me in this mooc). The question is "what we do" about it. Awareness, real name, think before post, are some of the solutions. Plus, we the teachers must discuss these issues with our students.

"

5.2 What is online radicalisation?

Violent radicalisation online is a complex process whereby individuals, through their online interactions and exposure to various types of internet content, come to view violence as a legitimate method of solving social and political conflicts. Some of those violently radicalised via the internet may go on to commit acts of terrorism. 

In the video below, Humza Arshad – a popular YouTube Creator for Change Ambassador, with many young fans across the world – addresses this problem in a language likely to appeal to your pupils. His accomplishments also show how technology is not just a cause of concern, but can also help to amplify more positive messages and solutions, something we will come back to later in this module.

5.3 Education approaches to promote critical thinking and mutual respect

As different in nature as online hate speech and radicalisation may be, education responses typically evolve around the need to foster critical thinking, tolerance and mutual respect. 

Media literacy meets citizenship education

UNESCO has long promoted Global Citizenship education to nurture respect for all, building a sense of belonging to a common humanity and helping learners become responsible and active global citizens. More specifically:

• In response to hate speech, citizenship education encompasses the knowledge and skills to identify hate speech, while enabling individuals to counteract messages of hatred. 
• To prevent and counter violent extremism, education can:
  • Help young people develop the communication and interpersonal skills they need to dialogue, face disagreement and learn peaceful approaches to change.
  • Help learners develop their critical thinking to investigate claims, verify rumours and question the legitimacy and appeal of extremist beliefs.
  • Help learners develop the resilience to resist extremist narratives and acquire the social-emotional skills they need to overcome their doubts and engage constructively in society without having to resort to violence.
  • Foster critically informed citizens able to constructively engage in peaceful collective action. 

Within this context, media literacy approaches – as discussed in Module 2 – have proved particularly effective. Below, we give two concrete examples of how you can put this into practice.

a) Trust Me 

Trust Me is a resource designed by Childnet to support primary and secondary school teachers in exploring critical thinking online. Developed in partnership with the London Grid for Learning to address the emerging area of online extremism and propaganda, this practical resource aims to provoke discussion among pupils so as to challenge them to think critically about what they see on websites and social media as well as the communication they have with others online. 

b) MIL for me
MIL for me is an online training resource on media and information literacy (MIL) developed by the Swedish Media Council. It contains various lesson plans and suggested methods. One module for teacher and students covers various elements of online hate and tolerance: 

For teachers:

For students:

The supporting chapter on online relationships is available here.

Social and emotional learning 

While critical thinking is undoubtedly important, children and young people also need the social and emotional skill set to put cognitive learning into practice and make behavioural change happen. In Module 3 on cyberbullying, we talked in great detail about the ENABLE project, which combats bullying and contributes to the wellbeing of young people aged 11-14 through social and emotional development and peer education.

We also introduced the new My well-being and yours: Respect… begins with me! chapter, which provides some further ideas on how to tackle online hate speech and radicalisation with your pupils.

Activity

Have a look at page 6, exercise 5 and 6 of the ‘My well-being and yours’ resource, which illustrates how you can bring social and emotional dimensions into the discussion, even with very young pupils, for instance by exploring how children and young people can influence or be influenced. To start out such an activity with your students why not share with them which kind of influence others have on you and you have on others. They might learn something new about you and it can be a nice way to engage them for the activity.

https://padlet.com/eunacademy/noeifmbvte7g

MY post for the activity
"I believe that every person is influenced by the environment he lives in. We see and consciously or unconsciously imitate behaviors by the time we are born. During our childhood, we have as a role model our parents. As teenagers, we live the time when we are hugely influenced by our teen age friends or some role models, like singers, actors etc.
When we grow up, we may be influenced by the environment where we live in.
For the children, in general, it is a difficult period, because they may imitate bad  behaviors and negative role models. Moreover, the influence by the internet and the social media is huge.
The attitude of the parents and the school is crucial."

5.4 Counterspeech and other forms of campaigning

While education is undoubtedly important, other strategies have emerged in the fight against online hate speech and radicalisation.

Counterspeech and counter-narratives

The term counterspeech refers to responses or content that is created to counter a range of extremisms and hate speech online. A counter-narrative is a tool to challenge the ideologies, narratives and stories of violent extremists. The purpose of a counter-narrative is to discredit, deconstruct and demystify extremist messages. They can do this by using logical or factual arguments or using satire and humour. They can be as specific or nuanced, as direct or indirect, as the person or group creating them wants to make them.

In the video below, Dr Erin Saltman from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) talks in further detail about counter-speech and counter-narratives:

Other forms of campaigning
Within Europe, the most visible campaign against online hate and extremism has surely been the No Hate Speech Movement. 

The No Hate Speech Movement is as a youth campaign of the Council of Europe for human rights online, to reduce the levels of acceptance of hate speech and to develop online youth participation and citizenship, including in Internet governance processes. It comes with an excellent publication –Bookmarks – A manual for combating hate speech online through human rights education – which is designed to support the educational work that will enable young people to find their own ways of addressing and coping with hate speech online. It aims to develop the understanding, skills and motivation that they will need in order to play an active role in shaping an internet which pays due respect to human rights and democratic participation principles. Below, we have already included a ten do’s and don’ts coming from the handbook, to give you some immediate inspiration.

Activity

Try to figure out if the No Hate Speech Movement is active in your country, for instance by having a look at the many national campaign websites, which include additional tools and tips in your own language. Share your ideas on Twitter on how your school can become involved, using the #onlinesafetyMOOC hashtag. Alternatively, you can let us know in the Facebook group, forum or in in the Padlet below.

5.5. The role of industry

Apart from education and other civil society stakeholders, industry also has an important role to play, particularly for the most inappropriate and/or harmful types of online content, contact and conduct.

Community standards

Against the background of continued political pressure (sometimes combined with a threat of financial sanctions), big social media companies such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have all put community guidelines and reporting mechanisms in place to combat the spread of (certain types) of online hate speech and extremism. 

For instance, in its Community Standards, Facebook explains it is not only encouraging respectful behaviour, but it also “removes hate speech, which includes content that directly attacks people based on their Race, Ethnicity, National origin, Religious affiliation, Sexual orientation, Sex, gender, or gender identify, or Serious disabilities or diseases.”

While organisations and people dedicated to promoting hatred against these protected groups are not allowed a presence, Facebook heavily relies on its community to report this content to us. Therefore, it also provides guidance on How to Report Things. If you think a message you have received goes against Facebook’s Community Standards, you can report it by filling out a form. Facebook won't let the person know who reported them. However, keep in mind that not everything that may be upsetting violates Facebook’s Community Standards!

Activity

As explained in previous modules of this Online Safety MOOC, finding and understanding Terms and Conditions is often a challenging process. Identify a social media platform which is popular among your pupils, and use the following checklist/questionnaire to explore its community guidelines and terms of use. Share the results in the Padlet below! 

https://padlet.com/eunacademy/hjv3fj37243q

5.6. Criminal law and law enforcement

We have pointed to the important role education, civil society actors and social media platforms play in protecting an empowering children and young people online. Yet, governments have the final responsibility to make sure there is a robust system of law enforcement and criminal law sanctions in place against illegal hate speech and online content, contact or conduct promoting extremism or terrorism. 

Therefore, if you have concerns that one of your pupils is being, or has been, radicalised or incited to violence or prejudicial action, you should follow your school’s standard safeguarding procedures. 

Within this context, you can:

• Contact your local authority or police force – if the child has not committed a criminal offence, the police and local authority will discuss your concerns, suggest how they can best protect the child, and help you gain access to all the support and advice you need.
• In many countries, the Department for Education also has a counter-extremism point-of-contact for advice and support.
• If in doubt, contact a national helpline – various helplines exist, both as part of the Insafe network and Child Helpline International. 
• INHOPE is an active and collaborative global network of Hotlines, dealing with illegal content online. While several Hotlines more specifically focus on child sexual abuse, many of them also deal with other types of illegal content, such as racism and xenophobia, incitement to hatred, and so forth.

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ACTIVITY: My Learning Design

My learning design on internet safety issues from Stavroula L
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