Publications
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Blackface and Social Media
Over the last few hours the picture below of what appears to be a couple of Indigenous Australians in traditional dress has been causing serious outrage on social media and started to be picked up by the news media. The reason for this outrage is that neither of the people pictured are Indigenous, further, their…
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Unbelievable responses on Holocaust Memorial Day
Here are some problematic responses we saw after publishing an article about Holocaust denial and our new report into antisemitism on social media on Holocaust Memorial Day yesterday. Promotion of Holocaust denial website The link in the first post points to a page by David Cole and the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust (CODOH).…
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Measuring the Hate: The State of Antisemitism in Social Media
A major new report prepared for the Global Forum to Combat Antisemitism, “Measuring the Hate: The State of Antisemitism in Social Media”, highlights that not enough is being done to combat antisemitism in social media. The report, based on tracking over 2,000 items of antisemitism over the last 10 months, found that only 20% of…
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Racist groups use Australia Day to promote bigotry
Racist groups on social media are using Australia Day to challenge who counts as Australian, and what being Australian means. They are spreading a message that those born in Australia are “Indigenous Australians” regardless of whether they have any connection to Aboriginal peoples or Torres Strait Islanders, offending both actual Indigenous Australians whose first people status…
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Violent Extremism on the rise in Australia
A news story in the Sydney Morning Herald talks about the rise in content on social media promoting violent extremism to Australians, particularly from radical Islamic groups from the UK. We all have complex identities, each of which comes with a set of values. Members of faith, ethnic or cultural groups share values despite geographic…
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Holocaust Denial Cartoon Competition
The municipal government in Tehran (Iran) has announced their third cartoon / caricature contest promoting Holocaust denial. The contest first ran in 2006, then again in April 2015. Last year’s competition was run on April Fool’s Day. The Director of Sarcheshmeh Cultural Complex, one of the organisers, said this was to emphasise that “the Holocaust…
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Revenge Porn: What the law must do
In a shocking incident discussed in a Senate Inquiry, a young woman shared how her abusive partner coerced her into having sex with a prostitute and then shared the images of it on pornographic websites. The incident is the latest in the growing “Revenge Porn” phenomena, where young girls and women have their sexually explicit and…
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The different meanings of Australia Day
Yesterday, we announced we would be running an all day campaign on January 26 called “Unity in Diversity on Australia Day”. The campaign will create images for people to share promoting Australian values such as multiculturalism, religious pluralism, respecting people’s dignity, mateship, volunteering, and commitment to the rule of law. It will also encourage the public to take positive action by…
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Children’s e-Safety Commissioner launches six-month report
The Office of Children’s e-Safety Commissioner released its first six-month report via a video yesterday. The Office was launched last year by the Federal Government to counter the rising levels of cyberbullying among children. It came into being on July 1, 2015 after lengthy discussions and debate, both in the parliament and outside of it. OHPI had also…
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Facebook launches a campaign against hate speech in Europe
In an ironic move, Facebook launched a campaign “Online Civil Courage Initiative” in Europe to counter online hate yesterday. The initiative is only Europe wide and was launched in Berlin. Facebook has pledged to make over 1 million Euros available to European NGOs to fight online extremism across the continent. It will also be bringing together…