Tense social times all too often erupt in hateful comments online, and those in the public eye quickly become targets. Shortly before the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, the current forsa results show: According to those surveyed, politicians are particularly badly affected by hate online.
Almost 70 percent (67%) of those surveyed who noticed hateful comments online said that they had already read statements that were directed against a political actor. But people with different political views (58%) or people with a migration background (50%) are also perceived as victims of hate online. A third of those surveyed had also noticed hatred against journalists. In the 14- to 24-year-old age group who have noticed hate speech online, there is also an increased perception of hatred directed against people who, for example, do not conform to common beauty ideals (65%). Hateful comments against members of the LGBTQ community have also been encountered, especially by those under 25 (79%).
Hate comments don't just go unnoticed by many people
The numbers show that hate is a widespread problem: almost 80 percent (77%) of German Internet users aged 14 and over say they have encountered hate comments on the Internet. This is particularly evident in the age group of young people between the ages of 14 and 24, of whom only a few know an Internet without hate (comments) (8%). Regardless of age, the perception of hate speech is high and is therefore a problem that affects us all. A problem that not only affects us, but also affects many, as the current results show: a good three quarters of all respondents (77%) say that hate comments make them angry.
Counter strategies: Reporting hate helps
In contrast, it is all the more gratifying to know that those surveyed are very supportive of not just reading and accepting hate online, but rather taking action and reporting hate to independent reporting centers (66%). Reporting comments directly to the platform provider is also perceived as effective, primarily by those under 25 (81%), followed by content moderation in the sense of community management (73%).
Overall, according to those surveyed who had already encountered them, hate comments were reported to the platforms slightly more often than in previous studies - 29 percent of those surveyed had already done so once, and those under 25 were particularly active here (62%). At the same time, however, it can be observed that the opportunity to counter hate speech with counter-speech is being used less and less and only just under one in five people are willing to respond with criticism (21%) - possibly out of fear of attracting hatred towards themselves. Even more than rapid deletion (76%), criminal prosecution is seen as an effective strategy against hate comments (79%).
Track instead of just delete initiative does exactly that. Here, the public prosecutor’s office, media companies and media regulators in North Rhine-Westphalia work actively together to protect the Internet from hate and hate speech. They work together to prosecute hate comments that are relevant to criminal law. These can be displayed as part of “Track instead of just deleting”. And you can also contact the NRW State Media Authority if you have hate comments and report them: beschwerde@medienanstalt-nrw.de
The full results of the survey can be found here . Further information about our approach to hate speech online can be found here .
- Hate Speech forsa study 2022 [pdf, 699 KB]
Related to the topic : Digital Services Act |
EU: New law against fake news, online hate and other illegal content. Less fake news, fewer hate posts, but more protection of children and young people on the Internet! With the “Digital Services Act”, internet companies must take stricter action against hate postings, fake news and other illegal content.
Source: State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

