Hate speeches put social media under scrutiny
THE decision by billionaire Elon Musk to buy Twitter has reopened a debate on respecting freedom of speech and curbing hate speech peddled through social media platforms. The issue has immense implications, particularly for societies in the Global South, where the fault-lines can be easily exacerbated by hate speech, even as the ruling political class is prone to misusing laws passed to curb hate speech.
After announcing the deal to buy Twitter, Musk said: “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.” He further added on April 27: “By ‘free speech’, I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.” In this connection, both statements need to be further probed from the context of realities, particularly in the Global South.
One of the fears of Musk’s Twitter takeover is that he may end the Twitter ban on former President Donald Trump which was imposed after the attack on Capitol Hill in Washington DC on January 6 — US President Joe Biden called it an ‘insurrection’. Twitter and Facebook had suspended the accounts of Trump, who had infamously spouted online canards against ethnic and racial minorities for almost a decade, apart from being a source and amplifier of hate speech and fake news. A number of whistleblowers have recorded their testimonies on how the social media companies have consistently taken steps that are proving to be destructive for society. Frances Haugen, who worked with Facebook for two years, has given detailed presentations on various platforms and claimed that the company is aware of how its platforms are used to spread misinformation, hate and violence. She reportedly accused the social media platform of lying about the progress it has made in combating hate speech online.
As is widely reported, the European Union (EU) is ahead of the curve in this respect and has agreed on several laws in regulating the social media space with a particular protection for vulnerable sections of society, including minorities, and also fixing responsibility on the social media companies. In April, the EU reportedly agreed on a law called the Digital Services Act, which aims to “address social media’s societal harms by requiring companies to more aggressively police their platforms for illicit content or risk billions of dollars in fines”. “Tech companies would be compelled to set up new policies and procedures to remove flagged hate speech, terrorist propaganda and other material defined as illegal by countries within the European Union.”
While much of the debate on regulating social media companies has taken place in the context of idiosyncrasies of the billionaires and the Global North, the Global South has merely tried to catch up.
The evidence of social media platforms such as Facebook being used in large-scale killings by inflaming passions against vulnerable minorities is well-documented. The Myanmar military’s disproportionate response to the attacks by militants of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on more than 30 police posts in 2017 is a classic example of Facebook being weaponised by the Tatmadaw to wage an anti-Rohingya propaganda. At least 6,700 Rohingyas, including an estimated 730 children under the age of five, were killed in the violence, according to Médecins Sans Frontières. A total of over 700,000 Rohingyas had to flee Rakhine in Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh as the military, in the backdrop of a nationwide frenzy against the Rohingyas, went on a rampage and attacked Rohingya-inhabited villages. In 2018, a fact-finding mission set up by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council found that in Myanmar, “Facebook has been a useful instrument for those seeking to spread hate, in a context where for most users, Facebook is the Internet.” The 440-page report compiled after 15 months of examination gave detailed examples of how the Rohingya community was demonised and recorded many cases “where individuals, usually human rights defenders or journalists, become the target of an online hate campaign that incites or threatens violence.”
Because of the paucity of resources, there is a limited granular research available about the impact of social media content in the Global South. Algorithmic reinforcement by social media software for greater financial rewards is abetting hatred against vulnerable sections of the society, particularly minorities, and instilling regressive societal values. This consequently is impeding economic progress by creating a situation of unrest. This is taking place in a context where mass scale educational and economic deprivation, with deep seated ethnic, religious, economic and social fault-lines abound in a toxic ecosystem that can be exploited easily. Passing laws will not be enough because of poorly trained digital forensics, and sometimes compromised law-enforcement authorities.
The last decade that has coincided with the stupendous global growth in social media users has given many benefits such as allowing quicker democratic flow of information. It has had deleterious effects in multi-religious, multi-ethnic set-ups of the Global South which underscore the need for forcing social media companies to ensure greater algorithmic transparency and devoting resources for creating societal awareness to recognise the patterns of hate speech and misinformation. The companies need to have more knowledgeable, efficient and context-sensitive content moderators. Without compromising on freedom of speech, safer and secure social media platforms in the Global South require equal, if not more, urgency as in the Global North.
