London and Washington, D.C., 15 December 2020: PeaceTech Lab and global pro bono law firm partner, Hogan Lovells, have published the Global Regulation of Online Hate: A Broad Survey of Applicable Laws .
The Report will be a useful resource for institutions seeking to address the challenges presented by online speech and has been recognized by the UN Special Rapporteur on Minorities.
Read MoreOpinion: Caleb Gichuhi is a senior specialist at PeaceTech Lab. As South Africa geared up for the recent election (May 8), he and his team were monitoring and analyzing trends throughout the country to understand and offer insights on the potential relationship between hateful language on social media and instances of violence on the ground. This is part one of a deep dive into the findings.
Read MoreSocial media is an increasingly vital tool for crisis response as non-profit organizations use it to save lives and help those in need. But its power to spread information means social media can escalate crises too.
Read MoreFake News is not just a problem for citizens in the US. Disinformation on social media has been blamed for fueling violence in conflict zones all over the world. PeaceTech Lab has been tracking hate speech in South Sudan, and has come out with a lexicon of terms that are likely to incite violence.
Read MoreAs Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg works to convince 2 billion users — and United States lawmakers — that the company can address issues related to privacy, disinformation, and hate speech, they also acknowledge they have struggled to understand how people in “high-risk areas” might use the far-reaching online platform “to create real risks of harm and violence,” said Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president for U.S. public policy, at the PeaceTech Summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
Read MoreThis report from UNMISS and OHCHR analyzes the right to freedom of opinion and expression in South Sudan from July 2016 to December 2017. PeaceTech Lab Africa's integral work on hate speech in South Sudan is referenced on page 30.
Read MoreCheck out Peace News Network's top picks for peace initiatives to keep an eye on this year, featuring PeaceTech Lab's work on stopping hate speech in Kenya and South Sudan.
Read MoreA report by PeaceTech Lab, operating under the United States Institute for Peace, shows that words that were once used against a specific ethnicity in South Sudan are now being used to target different groups to match the changing context of the conflict. Theo Dolan, Director of PeaceTech Lab Africa, says abusive and dangerous language continues to be disseminated across various social media platforms.
Read MoreTheo Dolan, director of PeaceTech Lab Africa, which works to reduce violent conflict using technology, media, and data, believes words do matter. He says PeaceTech’s research has shown that online hate speech – mainly coming from South Sudan’s diaspora in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia – is contributing to the violence.
Read MoreA report on the use of hate speech on social media and its impact on the conflict in South Sudan has been released, indicating the use of new terminologies to spread hatred.
The report by PeaceTech Lab, operating under the United States Institute for Peace, lists emerging terms such as ‘terrorist’ to make attacking comments against ethnic groups.
The bi-weekly reports track publicly available dangerous language found on various social media platforms in order to make connections between online hate speech and violent events.
Theo Dolan, the Director of PeaceTech Lab Africa, explains that the purpose of their reporting is to help mitigate the spread of hateful language in fueling violence on the ground.
Read MoreKenya's past elections have been marred by violence, and with citizens heading to the polls on August 8, observers are concerned about the impact of hate speech. SMS text messages, in particular, have been blamed for partially fueling violence that led to 1,400 deaths following the 2007 election.
However, during this year's election, SMS messages are being used to try to diffuse tension, and social media is being used to monitor hate speech.
What is hate speech?
"The definition we use for hate speech is really the general definition, which is speech that attacks a person or group, on the basis of their race, their gender, their ethnic origin, their religion, or sexual orientation," said Giselle Lopez, from PeaceTech Lab, who has been researching the impact of hate speech and conflict in the region – including neighboring South Sudan.
"In the case of most of the work that we do there's another category of speech, called dangerous speech, which is speech that is very likely to lead to violence," Ms Lopez said.
Read MoreA growing source of concern that divides people and societies is the use of hate speech through the social and mainstream media.
It is a trend Channels Academy hopes to check in the coming days, working in partnership with the Peace Media and Peace Tech Lab.
The Director of the Peace Media and Peace Tech Lab, Theo Dolan, who was at the launch of the Channels Academy in Abuja, said his organisation would support the academy’s curriculum.
“With the launch of the Channels (journalism) Academy, we can integrate hate speech training into the academy’s curriculum and that is what we are hoping to do. We’ll be in discussions about that and I think this is something that professional media can learn more about as well,” he said.
Read MoreTheo Dolan, Director of PeaceTech Lab Africa and Peace Media, discusses the problem of hate speech in South Sudan, how people can take steps to verify and report instances of hate speech or "fake news," and encourages professional media outlets to report on cases of misinformation.
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