Why can’t the internet get ahead of hate? Why has fighting
hate online almost always been reactive, and when it has been proactive, it is tentative
and apologetic?
The time honored anti cyberhate techniques of filtering,
blocking and counter-speech remain the cornerstone of online hate response. These
practices are still at the core of more updated tactics which utilize AI and
other technologies, but in internet time, they are still old approaches.
Blocking and filtering does not stop or dissuade hate, it
simply hides it. The writer still spews hate. If there is hate on the internet and
most people do not see it, is it still hate? Yes, it is.
If a person of an identifiable religious or ethnic group is
walking down the street wearing headphones, and someone is walking behind them
screaming abusive epithets, the target may not hear the hate, but everyone else
on the street does.
That is filtering and blocking. It does not stop hate. It does not stop the spread or promotion of
hate.
Counter-speech is the modern substitute for the lost arts of
debate and dialogue. It is most effective with audiences who are receptive and
willing to engage. These are rarely extremists.
Racists, xenophobes, and extremists are always looking for
new ways to proselytize and manipulate audiences. Despite their protestations about
anti-hate procedures on platforms, blocking and filtering are not
insurmountable barriers. Developing new tactics to evade online content safety
measures is a long established, ongoing practiced.
Each new breach of online anti-abuse prevention is not
simply a display of creativity by bad people. It is a signal that the
platforms, and community, have not been putting enough effort into outthinking
the haters.
When it became obvious that manipulative political advertising
was being placed by off-shore bad-actors, that was not just an indication of poor
due-diligence by the platforms. Those ads should have been a warning deceptive
internet content was not just the result of offensive or misleading posts on
social media.
The dogmatic, unflinching defense of free speech and profit,
and hesitancy to decry repugnant, corrosive, and hateful behavior has allowed
the internet to become infected with opinion disguised as fact.
Hate protagonists do not hesitate to try new methods or seek
subversive allies, yet anti-hate measures are agonized over endlessly and often
spoil on the shelf. We can improve the
internet. We can stymie the propaganda networks which seek to undermine facts, truth,
and civility. The problem is, we need to be smarter, braver, and bolder than
the bad guys. If we are, we are not showing it.
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