Curbing Hate Online: What Companies Should Do Now

Internet tools have empowered those driven by or capitalizing on hate. Following the violence in Charlottesville, the Center for American Progress joined with the Southern Poverty Law Center and Free Press to convene experts from civil, human, and media rights groups, as well as open internet organizations, to better understand how hate organizes online and to determine what could be done about it. We sought out and listened to experts on terrorism, human rights, media manipulation, technology, and law. We heard from those working domestically, as well as experts working in Asia, Africa, and Europe. We visited with colleagues tackling the same issues in Europe and met with leaders in the United Kingdom, Germany, and at the European Union to understand how they were addressing concerns in their communities. We focused on internet companies' self-regulation of what occurs on their platforms. Virtually all internet companies already have terms of service or acceptable use policies that purport to regulate hateful activities on their services. We decided to help make those user-facing policies more effective, fair, and transparent. This report details how those inciting hate are using technologies to grow their audiences; to target people based on their essential characteristics, such as race, religion, gender, LGBTQ status, immigrant status, among others; and to fund their activities. It outlines our research and analysis, shares what we learned, and includes a summary of our recommended policies. In addition, we discuss some of the thorny issues that will naturally arise when attempting to balance our desire for broad, accessible speech and actions with an effective response to activities by individuals or groups driven by or capitalizing on hate.