• The United Nations observes International Day for Countering Hate Speech on June 18.

• The devastating effect of hatred is nothing new, but its scale and impact have grown with new communication technologies, making hate speech a frequent tool for spreading divisive ideologies globally. If left unchecked, hate speech undermines peace and development by fueling conflicts and human rights violations. 

• Hate speech often fuels violence and intolerance, with ethnic and religious minorities among the most frequent targets.

• As part of its core mission to combat hatred, discrimination, racism and inequality, the UN is stepping up efforts to challenge hate speech wherever it arises.

What is hate speech?

• There is no international legal definition of hate speech. The term hate speech is understood as any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender or other identity factor. This generates intolerance and hatred and, in certain contexts, can be demeaning and divisive. 

• Hate speech incites violence and undermines social cohesion and tolerance. 

• Incitement is a very dangerous form of speech, because it explicitly and deliberately aims at triggering discrimination, hostility and violence, which may also lead to or include terrorism or atrocity crimes. 

• Hate speech not only affects the specific individuals and groups targeted, but societies at large.

• The escalation from hate speech to violence has played a significant role in the most horrific and tragic crimes of the modern age, from the antisemitism driving the Holocaust, to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. 

• The world must not trample on freedom of speech and expression, but when that speech is weaponised to violate the rights of others — including inciting atrocity crimes and acts of terrorism, it must not be met with deafening silence that implies apathy or acceptance.

• The Internet and social media have turbocharged hate speech, enabling it to spread like wildfire across borders. 

• If left unchecked, hate speech can even harm peace and development, as it lays the ground for conflicts and tensions and wide scale human rights violations.

Hate speech and AI nexus

• In today’s hyper-connected world, hate travels fast and far. Amplified by algorithms and fueled by disinformation, it's a borderless threat.

• Online hate speech has become one of the most prevalent means of spreading divisive narratives, posing a growing threat to peace and security around the world.

• This year’s theme sheds light on the nexus between hate speech and artificial intelligence (AI). Building coalitions is the main tool societies can use to reclaim inclusive and safe spaces free of hatred.

• The rise of AI has added new complexities. While AI can prevent harmful speech, it can also deepen inequalities. When bias and hate are embedded in technology, those already at risk, particularly women, minorities and refugees are often most affected.

• While AI tools offer myriad potential opportunities to make positive differences in situations of conflict and insecurity, biased algorithms and digital platforms are also spreading toxic content and creating new spaces for harassment and abuse.

• Hate speech disproportionately targets women. From online harassment to violence aiming to shame, silence, and exclude them from civic and political spaces, women are forced to withdraw from public discourse or avoid participation.  

• For many Indigenous groups, hate speech is not just abuse — it’s a form of historical erasure. Algorithms often amplify stereotypes and slurs while silencing authentic voices. 

• Displacement brings a double burden. Losing a home while facing hostility in a new one fractures belonging. Refugees often face dehumanising online narratives, xenophobic rhetoric, and scapegoating, deepening real-world exclusion.  

• One of the most grievous consequences of advances in digital technologies has been the alarming rise of technology-facilitated gender-based violence around the world. Technology-facilitated gender-based violence is “any act that is committed, assisted, aggravated or amplified by the use of information communication technologies or other digital tools which results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological, social, political or economic harm or other infringements of rights and freedoms.”

• This abuse is differentiated because women and girls are attacked simply for being online and for being women or girls. These forms of violence are widespread.

• Globally, 38 percent of women have experienced gender-based violence online, and 85 per cent of women have witnessed it.

• Young women are particularly affected: 58 per cent of young women across 31 countries experienced online gender-based violence.

• Such violence — comprising image-based abuse, trolling, online hate speech, cyberharassment, gendered disinformation and other harms — undermines women’s wellbeing and agency.

• Generative AI can create sustained and automated attacks and automatically generate convincingly written posts, texts and emails.

• This gives existing harms such as hate speech, cyberharassment, misinformation and impersonation a much wider reach and makes them more dangerous. 

• With digital advancement, hate speech continuously changes its form and reach, and so too must our responses. When designed with care and deployed with purpose, technology becomes a bridge not a barrier.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store