Publications
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Attacking the ANZACs on Facebook
In the lead-up to ANZAC day 2013 an internet troll began creating a series of pages mocking ANZAC veterans. The pages were designed to cause public outrage in both Australia and New Zealand. The Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPI) documented these hate pages and regularly updated Facebook, law enforcement and relevant government departments. Our efforts,…
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Attacking the ANZACs
Since the week of April 9th 2012, the Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPI) has been monitoring a number of Facebook pages created to spread hateful content about ANZAC veterans. OHPI have discussed the situation with the RSL and police and have notified the Department for Veteran’s Affairs. These cowardly attacks will be ignored by most…
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If you can’t Recognize Hate Speech, the sunlight can’t penetrate
This week the Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPI), an Australian Charity which I have the privilege of leading as its CEO, released my major new report into Hate Speech on Facebook. OHPI seeks to facilitate a change in online culture so that hate in all its forms becomes as socially unacceptable online as it is in “real…
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Recognizing Hate Speech: Antisemitism On Facebook
The Online Hate Prevention Institute released a major new report into antisemitism on Facebook to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21st 2013. The new report tracks the response to a number of antisemitic items on Facebook. Some of the items were included in OHPI’s previous report in 2012 into Aboriginal Memes and…
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The Hitler Shield: Mocking the Dead at Facebook
Facebook is sliding into moral decay. I would say slowly, but the pace of detrimental change appears to be increasing. The change between 2008 and today is truly shocking; the more facebook grows, the less regard it appears to have for other or for society as a whole. In 2008 Facebook’s terms of service included…
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Aboriginal Memes and Online Hate
The Online Hate Prevention Institute is pleased to announce the release of a major new report into Aboriginal Memes and Online Hate. The press release can be viewed here (or seen below) and the report may be downloaded here (or seen below). PRESS RELEASE: Responding to the unprecedented attack on Indigenous Australians through Facebook The…
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Facebook Discourages Reporting
Why would Facebook let users go through a long process to report something, only to tell them in the final step that they should have used a different process and their complaint will now not be accepted? OHPI considers this a serious design flaw which may discourage the reporting of serious complaints. Hate speech can…
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Facebook’s New Reporting Tool
Facebook have updated their image reporting tool. The new tool has more steps to it, and by default the “report to Facebook” option isn’t selected. It also prompts users to check the community standards before reporting content. Most interesting is the final message after something has been reported, this message provides an apology for the users experience.…
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Facebook sanctions Antisemitic content
The social media platform Facebook is in now eight and a half years old. For over half that time I have been researching and writing about Facebook’s potential to spread antisemitism and other forms of hate. I warned of the potential danger in my first Jerusalem Post op-ed back in 2008. Sincethen various incidents have arisen, and when Facebook went public I dared to hope this…
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Facebook Fails Review
(Updated 14 September 2012) OHPI recently reported a number of antisemitic images to Facebook using the regular reporting facility available to all users. Every one of our reports was swiftly reviewed and swiftly rejected. Formal complaints in Australia have let to some of the hateful content being blocked to Australian users, however, the content remains…