What is that?       

Hate speech is a widespread phenomenon on the Internet as it involves countless network users, either  as victims and perpetrators.                                                          

Taking a concrete example, it is like a liquid that spreads quickly and over a wide range and therefore a difficult thing to contain. 

In fact , online hatred is no different from offline hate. There is always talk of an action aimed at subduing and humiliating other people and, as racism and expressions of hatred, lead to the denial of the fundamental rights of the person. What changes is that, for the first time, the internet offers a space to create discriminatory messages and, in a short time and with little effort, spread on a large scale.

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From this point of view, the Internet becomes a propaganda tool for scientific and social statements, even formally authoritative, which in reality mask racist and xenophobic expressions.                                                                              

It is dangerous because at the same time it causes a process of cultural change that leads to manifestations of discrimination and offline intolerance.

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What is hate on the web today?            

Hate words on the net represent a very widespread phenomenon: this phenomenon affects the most vulnerable individuals on purely aesthetic and cultural characteristics that certainly do not affect our person such as: origins, religion, gender, identity of gender, sexual orientation, economic situations and appearance.

Sometimes they are incited by influential people, in other cases the spark is triggered by news or fake news.                                                                                       

What are the differences that characterize online speech from traditional speech?

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There are mainly four:

1. PERMANENCE , i.e. the potential of online hate manifestations to remain active over time in various forms, to be transferred between different platforms with the related possibility of being continuously attached to other content;

2.   the UNPREDICTABLE RETURN , that is, the removal of a content from the web is not equivalent to the total disappearance of the same as that same content can appear and "live again" in another place, in another time or, perhaps, on the same platform but with different heading;

3.   ANONYMITY or the use of pseudonyms and false names. This is the most important difference. In fact, since the web is a place where it is possible to act anonymously, many users feel more entitled to express hatred: it is often the idea of acting without the danger of being identified that encourages the phenomenon;

4.   TRANSNATIONALITY  , that is the absence of borders and the possibility of widespread dissemination of messages, which considerably increases the phenomenon of hate speech and further aggravates the identification of legal schemes to combat it.

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At this point, let's remember the "Code of Conduct to counter illegal hate speech online" (aimed at preventing the proliferation of racist and xenophobic hate speech online with the help of social networks).

The Code in question requires the platforms concerned (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube…) to provide clear and effective procedures for reporting on illegal forms of hate speech within their own.