Decoding Hate

  I sit down with Rikke Frank Jørgensen, Senior Researcher at the Danish Human Rights Institute, and Molly Land, the Catherine Roraback Professor of Law and Human Rights at the University of Connecticut Law School. We look at how approaches to fighting hate speech have evolved – from changing narratives within internet intermediaries, to stronger regulation by states and regional organizations. And we dig into the most recent effort to combat hate speech and illegal content online – the proposed Digital Services Act.   Further reading:Rikke Frank Jørgensen’s book, “Human Rights in the Age of Platforms” is essential reading for anyone interested in, or working on, content moderation by online platforms. For an open access version of it (courtesy of the Danish Council for Independent Research and MIT Press), click here.You can find an open access copy of Molly Land’s excellent book, “New Technologies for Human Rights Law and Practice” (co-edited with Jay D. Aronson), here.You can find Rikke’s publication list and research projects here. The Danish Institute for Human Rights Institute (DIHR), where Rikke is a Senior Researcher, has a number of publications and research projects on these topics — you can see DIHR’s website here. (While you’re there, make sure to read the report Rikke co-authored with her colleague, Marya Akhtar, entitled “Tech-Giants, Freedom of Expression and the Right to Privacy”, and the paper she wrote with her colleague, Lumi Zuleta, on hate speech and private governance of freedom of expression).We spoke today about remedies “beyond takedown” — including a range of innovative (and lighter touch) responses to harmful content online. For more on this topic, take a look at the article Molly co-authored, together with Rebecca Hamilton, entitled “Beyond Takedown: Expanding the Toolkit for Responding to Online Hate”.For more on Facebook’s Oversight Board, including its recent decisions tackling hate speech and automation, check out its website.Molly previously served as an alternate on the Board of Directors of the Global Network Initiative (GNI), a multi-stakeholder platform which works to protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy rights in the information and communications technology industry. For more on GNI’s work — including the GNI Learning Forum on content regulation and human rights — check out its website.Rikke is on the advisory board of Ranking Digital Rights (RDR), an international project that monitors internet companies’ human rights performance. Take a look at RDR’s ongoing work here.Follow Molly on Twitter for more on her ongoing projects.  

  I’m joined by Prof. dr. Sahana Udupa, a professor of Media Anthropology at LMU Munich. We talk about how the internet, the rise of social media companies, and the use of AI impact users around the world - including those whose voices are not often heard. We discuss Professor Udupa’s ongoing research project, AI4Dignity, and her upcoming co-edited volume, “Digital Hate: The Global Conjuncture of Extreme Speech”.   Further reading:To follow the progress of the AI4Dignity project, and see other ongoing initiatives, check out the For Digital Dignity website.For ethnographic explorations of extreme speech, check out Professor Udupa’s articles in the International Journal of Communication, available here and here.Professor Udupa also serves on the advisory board of MediaWell, an initiative of the Social Science Research Council to curate research on digital disinformation. Click here to read more about their research into disinformation, algorithms and automation and the impacts of COVID-19 in their featured blog series. Professor Udupa’s co-edited open access volume, “Digital Hate: The Global Conjuncture of Extreme Speech,” is now available. It includes case studies from China, India, Philippines, Denmark and Kenya to Chile, Turkey, the US, Pakistan and Indonesia. Get your copy today!I referred in the episode to the HateLab, a global repository for data and insight into hate speech and crime. Check out their publications and ongoing work at the link provided.For more on the AI4Dignity project, and Professor Udupa’s other ongoing initiatives, follow her on Twitter.  

  I'm joined by Thiago Dias Oliva, a PhD candidate at the University of São Paulo, and former Head of Research at the InternetLab, an independent law and technology research centre with ongoing initiatives researching hate speech and AI. Thiago explains how platforms are using AI and machine learning to moderate content online, and the risks this poses for marginalized groups - including the LGBTQ+ community.   Further reading:The article Thiago Dias Oliva coauthored with Dennys Marcelo Antonialli and Alessandra Gomes, “Fighting Hate Speech, Silencing Drag Queens? Artificial Intelligence in Content Moderation and Risks to LGBTQ Voices Online” is available here.You can also read Thiago Dias Oliva’s article, “Content Moderation Technologies: Applying Human Rights Standards to Protect Freedom of Expression” at this link.Much has been written about the trouble of biased AI — but two must-reads are Thomas Davidson et al.’s “Racial Bias in Hate Speech and Abusive Language Datasets” and Maarten Saap et al.’s “The Risk of Racial Bias in Hate Speech Detection”.For more on the ongoing work of the InternetLab — a law and technology research centre — check out their website.For more on Thiago’s work, follow him on Twitter.  

  I sit down with Jillian York, Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Director for International Freedom of Expression. We talk all things content moderation - from what we know about how platforms are doing it, to what role states should play in this new information ecosystem. We talk about Jillian's work in this area, and her upcoming book, "Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism".   Further reading:To snag a copy of Jillian York’s upcoming book, “Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism,” click here (US) or here (Europe).For more on Electronic Frontier Foundation, a leading non-profit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation, check out their website. The article Jillian co-authored with her colleague, Svea Windwehr, on Facebook’s recent Transparency Report, is available here. I fangirled over Kate Crawford in today’s episode — you can watch her keynote address, “The Trouble with Bias“ from the 2017 NIPS Conference at this link (trust me, you’ll quickly become a fan, too). We talked in today’s episode about the Santa Clara Principles, which call for 3 things: numbers, notice, and appeals. Read more about the Principles here.You can watch “The Cleaners” - a documentary which offers a glimpse into the hidden world of digital cleaning, directed by Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck - here.Connect with Jillian on Twitter or on her website.  

  I sit down with Prof. dr. Tarlach McGonagle to dissect hate speech - a longstanding challenge for state regulation, and a new dilemma for internet platforms. We discuss the complexities of defining and regulating hate speech, the proliferation of such speech on social media, and whose job it is to fight back against it.   Further reading:Professor Tarlach McGonagle is a co-rapporteur of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on Combating Hate Speech, tasked with drafting a recommendation for adoption by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers. For more on the Committee of Experts’ progress, click here.Tarlach’s expert paper, “The Council of Europe against online hate speech: Conundrums and challenges,” informed much of my own thinking about hate speech. It’s available here.Want to read the cases we talked about today? Click here for R. v. Keegstra, the Canadian case I mentioned which dealt with antisemitic hate speech. The European Court of Human Rights’ judgment in Vejdeland and others v. Sweden, concerning homophobic leaflets in school lockers, can be read here, while its decision in Norwood v. the United Kingdom (about the Islamophobic poster and Article 17 of the European Convention on Human Rights) is available here.For a primer on hate speech on social media, check out the Council on Foreign Relations’ “Hate Speech on Social Media: Global Comparisons”.You can also read the submission Tarlach and I co-authored for the #SAIFE project right here.For further reading on human rights in the digital age, take a look at the #DigitalShelvesInitiative, compiled by the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research Working Group on Human Rights in the Digital Age. Tarlach is a Co-Chair of the Working Group, and the reading lists cover freedom of expression, media and internet freedoms; privacy and data protection; and AI/machine learning and the regulation of technology.Connect with Tarlach on Twitter for more on his ongoing projects.  

In this engaging discussion, Nani Jansen Reventlow, a renowned human rights lawyer and founder of the Digital Freedom Fund, examines the evolution of freedom of expression in the digital era. She delves into how this fundamental right interacts with modern challenges. Deniz Wagner, an advisor at the OSCE on freedom of media, highlights the complexities that artificial intelligence introduces to free speech, urging for more transparency and accountability in tech platforms. Together, they explore the delicate balance between expression, democracy, and digital rights.