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Response to geography homework on Islam shuts down schools
A homework assignment on comparative religion for a geography class has led to the closure of multiple schools in Virginia, USA. The assignment, taken from a standard set of recommended exercises by the teacher, asked students to copy an item of Arabic calligraphy which expressed the Islamic declaration of faith. In response social media has…
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Anti-Muslim Hate Interim Report
This interim report provides some background and preliminary data from OHPI’s forthcoming “Spotlight on Anti-Muslim Internet Hate Report” due to be released in March 2016. It is released for International Human Rights Day (10th of December 2015) and in light of the need to urgently address this growing problem which threatens the inclusivity of our…
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Criminal investigations launched against Facebook in Germany for racist speech
Germany, a country that has first-hand experience in how rampant xenophobic speech can vitiate society, is taking serious action against Facebook for non-removal of racist speech from the social media platform. German prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation against the Facebook managing director in Germany, Martin Ott. Germany has seen a surge in anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant speech on…
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Facebook fails to remove Homophobic page
In June this year, we asked our supporters to report the homophobic page “Gays should be fit and muscular” (ID 500634340092240). The page was deactivated for a time, but on October 28th it returned under the name “Gays should be fit and Muscular, not hairy and corpulent #fpsbg” (ID 500634340092240 – as before). The page…
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No Platform – why we ban hate
The Online Hate Prevention Institute is an Australian charity dedicated to preventing the harm that can result from online hate. In addition to research, reports, law reform work, and engagement in public discussion through the media and events, we also run a large Facebook page. We do our best to keep the hate off our…
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It’s time Facebook repents
Our CEO Andre Oboler writes for the Jerusalem Post about Facebook’s policies about holocaust denial. Facebook’s current position on Holocaust denial is that “the mere statement of denying the Holocaust is not a violation of our policies”. Oboler argues that Facebook should re-consider these policies, especially in the wake of platform changing their approach to…
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Facebook to add a new “dislike” button
Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook will soon be adding a dislike button feature to its system. We welcome the addition of a dislike button which users have been calling for over many years. At the same time we believe there were good reasons to not have such a feature and that it’s addition poses risks…
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Virginia shooting: Lessons for social media companies
The shooting last night of two journalists in Virginia, US, has again sparked debate about the policies of social media companies. The shooter Vester Lee Flanagan shot the murders and uploaded them on Twitter and Facebook. Twitter suspended his account within 8 minutes of the video being uploaded, and Facebook too removed his profile and…
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Facebook’s Free Speech
When we post a briefing highlighting a Facebook page promoting hate we often get asked “Isn’t there a free speech issue here?” Yes, there are; two in fact. Facebook’s Free Speech One free speech issue is that Facebook has a free speech right to decide what is, and what is not, allowed on their social media…
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Win: Removal of Yorkshire Anti Communists Facebook Page
A few days ago, an antisemitic Facebook community Yorkshire Anti Communists (ID 104387733236839) was reported to our online hate reporting tool, FightAgainstHate.com. It had been online since June 22, 2015 and had amassed 375 supporters in the short period. We documented the contents of the Page and reported it to Facebook. We are pleased to…