Countering hate in the digital world

News: Recently controversial apps like “Bulli Bai” and “Sulli Deals” made news headlines in which prominent Muslim women were auctioned.  While it is under police investigation, it signals increasing levels of radicalization in the digital world.

What is the significance of this issue?

The issue highlights the issues associated with new media technologies and their evolution. These include a) impact on collective behaviour and identities, b) change in the scale and structure of human networks c) abundance and virality of information, impacting how groups influence each other. d) They also impact individual, political, social, and cultural identities.

How are digital space shaping identities and impacting individual?

The rise of social media is linked to the strengthening of personal social identities. There are also increasing divisions.

-Personalized feeds trap users in “echo chambers” reducing exposure to alternate views.

-People gravitate towards like-minded people on social media.

-The feedback loop of social confirmation and validation can result in violence.

Why hate speech is on the rise in society?

Digital users are prone to disinformation, hate speech, and radicalization. This has led to increasing levels of polarization and radicalization. Levels of social cohesion are also decreasing.

There can be many motivations behind these actions – like fear of missing out, or sinister intentions – like systematic and collaborative dissemination of propaganda or performative like a projection of power etc.

The information ecosystem – coined by Whitney Phillips and Ryan M. Milner, is dysfunctional and linked to environmental pollution. According to this concept, people should be concerned with how hate spreads and not whether someone intended to pollute or not.

What should be done to address the hate speech problem?

-There is a need to focus not only on people who have a larger audience but on every big and small user of social media.

-The distinction between offline and online effects should be done away with as at the level of society both are equally harmful.

-The providers of platforms should implement means of regulating hate speech.

-There is a need for “counterspeech” to counter radicalization. This will include tactics to counter hate speech by presenting an alternative narrative. It should aim at building empathy by humanizing, enforcing social norms around respect, De-escalating a dialogue etc.

Social norms impact families, friends and education. Influencers and leaders can shape these norms. There is an urgent need to adopt de-radicalization at a societal level before hate speech can even enter the digital space.

Source: This post is based on the article “Countering hate in the digital world” published in Indian Express on 17th January 2022.