In our Recap 2015 series, we take look at some of our major achievements of the year.
OHPI’s FightAgainstHate.com online reporting tool was launched by the Hon Paul Fletcher MP on behalf of the then Minister for Communications, Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP, in Sydney on December 9, 2014. The software aims to make social media companies publically accountable for their performance in removing hate. The system does this by allowing users to report hate content they see in social media so both the content, and the companies responses to it, can be monitored through it.
The software currently accepts reports related to a wide variety of types of content on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. It is a world first and brings a new level of sophistication and scalability to the challenge of tackling online hate, and has been praised in a report by UNESCO, endorsed by the Global Forum to Combat Antisemitism. On December 2, the tool was presented at an international conference on hate speech hosted by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations in New York.
The tool currently has 746 registered users and has received 5333 reports which related to 4034 unique items of online hate. FightAgainstHate.com is also supported by 38 partner organisations. These include national and state based peak bodies such as FECCA, ECAJ, the Arab Council of Australia, Children with Disability Australia, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, the Islamic Council of Victoria, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies; research projects, professional bodies, and charities working in the space of combating hate and prejudice such All Together Now, Collective Shout, the ARC Funded Cyber-Racism and Community Resilience Project, B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission, the Cyberspace Law and Policy Community, the IEEE Society for the Social Implications of Technology (Australia Chapter), Courage to Care, the Victorian Multicultural Commission, the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (NSW), and the Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra.
We have used FightAgainstHate.com to support two major anti-hate campaigns this year. In March 2014, we launched a month-long campaign Spotlight on Antisemitism and in September 2014 we launched Spotlight on Anti-Muslim Internet Hate (SAMIH). Next year, we will be publishing two reports based on the data collected on antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate during the two campaigns
FightAgainstHate.com is enabling us to achieve our goal of creating an online community active in controlling abusive behaviour, namely the spreading of online hate, through monitoring, reporting and engagement with service providers. FightAgainstHate.com also directly advances OHPI’s long term goal of being a world leader in combating online hate and a critical partner who works with key stakeholders to improve the prevention, mitigation and responses to online hate.
Your support via our Facebook page will help in our work to combat all forms of online hate. You can also stay informed about our work by joining our mailing list for a monthly summary of our activities.