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Hate Speech: l’odio nella Rete
Maceratini, Arianna
2023
Abstract
Although hatred and its expressions have accompanied the history of man since the most remote times, the peculiarities of the Internet introduce some characteri stics of temporal and spatial amplification of the phe nomenon which lead the virtual context to represent fertile ground for the spread of hate speech, fake news and extremist and persecutory ideas, making it difficult to find correct and objective information. Adding to the difficulty of offering a univocal and comprehen sive definition of hate speech is the different sensiti vity of the legal systems on the topic, in the common need to manage the relationship, in tension, between freedom of expression and conflicting constitutionally protected rights. A central critical issue is given by the prospect of regulation of the online debate, carried out by public authorities or by private entities profes sionally involved in the diffusion of virtual contents, bringing to light the danger of an arbitrary control of the thoughts circulating online and opening up to an intense debate on responsibility of online service pro viders. The fact that multiple reports and requests for the removal of posts inciting hatred come from the Web seems, in any case, to make us rethink the fight against hate speech, beyond possible repressive mea sures, to introduce positive, supportive interventions of victims, digital activism initiatives and counterspeech. Furthermore, attention is drawn to the indispensabili ty of a complex work of education in the use of the most recent technologies, essential to avoid any risk of IT paternalism and correlated to linguistic training capable of enhancing the principles of citizenship and democracy, favoring the opening of public debate by spreading the antibodies of virtual hatred. Finally, the issues addressed call for profound reflection on the centrality of the person and their electronic data as well as the role of social networks and virtual intermediaries, highlighting the risk of collateral censorship con ferred on subjects who, by specific vocation, carry out activities of a commercial nature, a theme that refers to the complexity of the relationships between public and private powers and their effects on the concrete exercise of freedom of expression.
Sebbene l’odio e le sue espressioni abbiano accompagnato la sto ria dell’uomo sin dai tempi più remoti, le peculiarità di Internet introducono alcune caratteristiche di amplificazione temporale e spaziale del fenomeno che portano il contesto virtuale a rappre sentare un fertile terreno al dilagare dell’hate speech, fake news e idee estremiste e persecutorie, rendendo arduo il rinvenimento di un’informazione corretta e oggettiva. Alla difficoltà di offrire una definizione univoca e comprensiva dell’hate speech si aggiunge, poi, una diversa sensibilità degli ordinamenti giuridici sul tema, nella comune esigenza di gestire il rapporto, in tensione, tra libertà di espressione e confliggenti diritti costituzionalmente protetti. Una questione critica centrale è data dalla prospettiva di una regolazio ne del dibattito online, effettuata dai pubblici poteri o da soggetti privati professionalmente coinvolti nella diffusione dei contenuti virtuali, facendo emergere il pericolo di un arbitrario controllo del pensiero ed aprendo ad un intenso confronto sulla responsabilità dei fornitori di servizi digitali. La circostanza che proprio dal Web provengano molteplici segnalazioni e richieste di rimozione dei post incitanti all’odio sembra, in ogni caso, far ripensare il contrasto all’hate speech, al di là delle possibili misure repressive, per introdurre interventi di segno positivo, di supporto delle vitti me, iniziative di attivismo digitale e counterspeech. Si porta all’attenzione, inoltre, l’indispensabilità di una complessa opera di educazione all’impiego delle più recenti tecnologie, essenziale a scongiurare ogni rischio di paternalismo informatico e correlata ad una formazione linguistica capace di valorizzare i principi della cittadinanza e della democrazia, favorendo l’apertura del dibat tito pubblico con il diffondere gli anticorpi dell’odio virtuale. Le questioni affrontate sollecitano, infine, una profonda riflessione che investe la centralità della persona e dei suoi dati elettronici nonché il ruolo dei social network e degli intermediari virtuali, metten do in luce il rischio di una collateral censorship conferita a soggetti che, per vocazione specifica, esercitano attività di natura commerciale, un tema che rimanda alla complessità dei rapporti tra poteri pubblici e privati e ai loro riflessi sul concreto esercizio della libertà di espressione.
Although hatred and its expressions have accompanied the history of man since the most remote times, the peculiarities of the Internet introduce some characteri stics of temporal and spatial amplification of the phe nomenon which lead the virtual context to represent fertile ground for the spread of hate speech, fake news and extremist and persecutory ideas, making it difficult to find correct and objective information. Adding to the difficulty of offering a univocal and comprehen sive definition of hate speech is the different sensiti vity of the legal systems on the topic, in the common need to manage the relationship, in tension, between freedom of expression and conflicting constitutionally protected rights. A central critical issue is given by the prospect of regulation of the online debate, carried out by public authorities or by private entities profes sionally involved in the diffusion of virtual contents, bringing to light the danger of an arbitrary control of the thoughts circulating online and opening up to an intense debate on responsibility of online service pro viders. The fact that multiple reports and requests for the removal of posts inciting hatred come from the Web seems, in any case, to make us rethink the fight against hate speech, beyond possible repressive mea sures, to introduce positive, supportive interventions of victims, digital activism initiatives and counterspeech. Furthermore, attention is drawn to the indispensabili ty of a complex work of education in the use of the most recent technologies, essential to avoid any risk of IT paternalism and correlated to linguistic training capable of enhancing the principles of citizenship and democracy, favoring the opening of public debate by spreading the antibodies of virtual hatred. Finally, the issues addressed call for profound reflection on the centrality of the person and their electronic data as well as the role of social networks and virtual intermediaries, highlighting the risk of collateral censorship con ferred on subjects who, by specific vocation, carry out activities of a commercial nature, a theme that refers to the complexity of the relationships between public and private powers and their effects on the concrete exercise of freedom of expression.
Source
Arianna Maceratini, "Hate Speech: l’odio nella Rete", in: "Tigor. Rivista di scienze della comunicazione e di argomentazione giuridica. A. XV (2023) n. 2 (luglio-dicembre)", Trieste, EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2023, pp. 42-55
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