Empowering NGOs in Countering Online Hate Messages

TL;DR

This paper presents a new ICT platform designed to help NGOs monitor social media, analyze hate speech, and generate counter-narratives more efficiently, thereby improving their ability to combat online hate messages like islamophobia.

Contribution

Introduction of a novel ICT platform with a counter-narrative tool to enhance NGO efforts against online hate speech, tested with real operators across multiple countries.

Findings

NGOs prefer the platform with the suggestion tool

Time to produce counter-narratives significantly decreases

Platform improves efficiency and effectiveness of hate speech countermeasures

Abstract

Studies on online hate speech have mostly focused on the automated detection of harmful messages. Little attention has been devoted so far to the development of effective strategies to fight hate speech, in particular through the creation of counter-messages. While existing manual scrutiny and intervention strategies are time-consuming and not scalable, advances in natural language processing have the potential to provide a systematic approach to hatred management. In this paper, we introduce a novel ICT platform that NGO operators can use to monitor and analyze social media data, along with a counter-narrative suggestion tool. Our platform aims at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of operators' activities against islamophobia. We test the platform with more than one hundred NGO operators in three countries through qualitative and quantitative evaluation. Results show that NGOs favor the platform solution with the suggestion tool, and that the time required to produce counter-narratives significantly decreases.