hatred

Online “free speech” is a gateway to hatred

While the Charlie Hebdo team were targeted for exercising their right to freedom of speech, there remains far more inflammatory and derogatory expression on Facebook and social media that goes unchecked. What often flies under the radar is the pervasive hate speech that is more or less ubiquitous on the web, alongside cat videos and Tumblr blogs, choking Internet forums and clogging YouTube comment sections. In a very real way, the presence of hate speech online has far more toxic and worrying ramifications, many of them below the threshold of awareness. As a fundamental right, freedom of speech is protected…

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