Living your life online is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, social media has revolutionized communication and given us awesome and unique ways to express ourselves. On the other, it’s made us extremely vulnerable to things like hate speech, as some use the relative anonymity of being online as an excuse to unleash their disrespectful and sometimes dangerous views.
Facebook has decided to put an end to this unfortunate side effect once and for all. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has teamed up with Peter Neumann of The Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung to launch the Online Civil Courage Initiative, a European-based program designed to fight hate speech with respect.
Sandberg wrote in a Facebook post published Monday:
Deleting content won’t make the hatred go away. We can’t just treat the symptoms – we have to treat the cause. We need the voices of tolerance and love to ring out across the world, because the best remedy to bad speech is more speech.
In terms of specifics, the Online Civil Courage Initiative will do three things: provide money to those fighting online extremism, develop best practices for dealing with hate speech online, and perform research into online extremism to better determine how to tackle this ever-growing issue.
“Hate speech has no place online – or in society,” Sandberg continued in her post. “Together, we can make sure the voices of peace, truth and tolerance are heard. Love is louder than hate.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Read the rest of Sheryl Sandberg’s important post below:
The internet gives voice. It helps people share the moments that matter to them – and stand up for the things they believe in.
In the past year, we’ve seen millions of people come together online to support refugees and stand in solidarity with the victims of terror attacks. But we’ve also heard voices of hate growing louder. With extremism damaging lives and societies across the world, challenging those voices has never been more important.
Deleting content won’t make the hatred go away. We can’t just treat the symptoms – we have to treat the cause. We need the voices of tolerance and love to ring out across the world, because the best remedy to bad speech is more speech.
Today Facebook joined Peter Neumann, The Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung to launch the Online Civil Courage Initiative – a joint project to encourage people to speak up against hate. Thank you to State Secretary Gerd Billen and the Ministry of Justice (Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz) for your support and leadership.
Hate speech has no place online – or in society. Together, we can make sure the voices of peace, truth and tolerance are heard. Love is louder than hate. #zivilcourage #civilcourage
(Image via Thomas Trutschel/Getty Images)
