RACISM ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Racism is for sure considered as Body shaming (ref. article “Body Shaming on social media”) but I wanted to talk more specifically of how social media increased racism (and hate in general).

Social media has been used to amplify deep historical fissures that divide communities and has been employed as a tool to spread racism, fake news, hate speech and harassment.

Internet is a way for frustrated people to let go of their hate, they “can” say whatever they want, feeling free to insult, harass, spit on religion, ethnicities and people. It is easier for them as they hide themselves behind a computer and attack people who can’t defend themselves properly.

Even if some people reply to these comments, tweets, etc. most people feel offended but don’t necessarily report it. Know that on most social media you can report content to the administration so the author can be punished and his content removed from the internet. It only takes a second and justice can be made, instead of replying to hate with hate.

After the football Euro Coupe, Germany’s team has been victim of harassment on twitter, especially one of their players named Mesut Özil, of Turkish origin. The team reported it to the police and one of the authors has been sentenced to 56 days in prison. Why aren’t these lawsuits launched in France?

Nevertheless in France, the antiracist associations receive more and more descriptions concerning tweets of facebook statuses with racist character. SOS-RACISM thinks about a specific consideration while avoiding the solution of a filtering of the contents, considered destructive of freedom.

To go back up to the authors of these words, it is necessary the agreement and the cooperation of relays and even Internet service providers. A collaboration difficult to set up because the social networks do not have legal status defined in the French law.

From the moment the defamation or the insult are characterized as racist, the judicial penalties are heavier. A racist insult emitted in a public place is liable to six months of prison and 22 500 euros. The racist defamation is liable to 45 000 euros and one year of prison. Contrary to the other, words held on the internet in the legal requirement is of three months of prison, the insults or the defamations with racist character are not subject to statute of limitations before one year.

What do you think government should put in place to avoid these types of insults on social media?

-LOU