Date: October 28th, 2020, 6:30pm – 8pm (Berlin time)
Online hate speech has become an intractable challenge for democratic societies around the globe. Derogatory expressions of hate against racial, religious, minority, ethnic, and other social groups are no exception anymore on the World Wide Web, especially in times of crisis. Radical fringe groups as well as right-wing populist sections of society are increasingly producing hate speech content on the Internet. In the context of the current pandemic, online hate has taken new shapes, including old and new conspiracy myths, along with fake news. Some of this content is blatant, some of it subtle, making it difficult for those confronted with hate speech to respond. In addition, it is unclear just what the appropriate way of responding could be.
The discussion aims to cover online hate from both an academic angle and the point of view of media institutions. More specifically, the panel will discuss the shapes in which hate speech currently occurs online, the psychology of online hate in the context of crisis, legal challenges concerning the banning of hate by media providers, the effects of hate speech on media users, and potentially appropriate responding to online hate.
Participants:
Prof. Dr. Özen Odağ – Professor of Psychology at Touro College Berlin (Media Psychologist) – Moderator
Johannes Baldauf – Public Policy Manager at Facebook Berlin
Nadine Brömme – Project Leader of Advocacy Network against Online Hate at Das NETTZ
Prof. Dr. Diana Rieger – Professor of Communication at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich
Ms. Rocío Rocha Dietz – Expert in cognitive media linguistics