CGO published a manual: Digital activism against hate speech

The Center for Civic Education (CGO) announced publication "Digital activism against hate speech - a manual in the fight against e-homophobia/biphobia/transphobia, hatred and violence".

Publication, as they said, provides guidance on ways to fight against hate speech motivated by real or assumed sexual orientation, especially in the online space where, the NGO points out, there is a growing trend of such actions.

Željka Ćetković, coordinator of the Active Citizenship program at CGO, points out that young people are highly exposed to hate speech in the online space, but that they are also its perpetrators.

"Research shows that in their free time they massively use the Internet, especially social networks, for information and socialization, and they engage in volunteerism and social activism the least. This manual tries to build a bridge between these tendencies of young people, giving guidelines for using Internet platforms in order to recognize and they fought against hate speech in those areas, and therefore were safer in them and protected others," she said.

The manual states that violence in the online space manifests itself in various ways: "Insulting, belittling, threats, spreading hate speech, as well as calls for violence - these are some of the phenomena that can be addressed to anyone in the virtual world," it states.

It is also emphasized that LGBTIQ+ people in Montenegro, as one of the most marginalized groups, are often targets of hate speech, violence and discrimination. "The online space has further expanded such harmful behavior, providing new dimensions for people to write and share any content, and what follows is the 'courage' of individuals to discriminate and attack people or groups of people who are different, especially in terms of sexual orientation and gender. The expansion of social networks and online platforms has also brought an increase in hate speech, violence and cyberbullying giving the wind at the back of the abusers, but at the same time enabling the preservation of evidence of these crimes for prosecution by the competent authorities", the manual explains.

Ćetković said that LGBTIQ+ people do not have enough trust in institutions to report cases of online violence, fearing that their identity will be revealed if they are not public cars, that "they will be further victimized", that their friends and family will be exposed to violence because of them and that the sanctions are not enough deterrents for the perpetrators. "Consequences of hate speech, violence and cyberbullying towards LGBTIQ+ people can be emotional, mental and physical, ranging from stress, feelings of isolation, through self-harm, suicidality to physical injuries of various degrees," he notes.

The manual warns that the publication of photos/comments that promote violence and discrimination can have serious negative consequences, including banning access to social networks, as well as problems before the competent authorities. Therefore, it added, it is important to be aware of the consequences and consider them carefully before posting content online, as they will carry some form of liability.

"As a form of protection against hate speech in the online space, violence and cyberbullying-a, but also fighting against them, a number of options are recommended - unfriend, unfollow, block, restrict, mute, hide comments, delete posts and comments (delete), prohibition of commenting on certain posts and reporting (report). In addition to these virtual tools and reporting to the platforms where hate speech occurred, these cases should also be reported to the Police Directorate so that they can be processed further," Ćetković says.

When reporting violence, the manual points out, it is important to collect evidence or witnesses in order to build a strong case against the abuser.

"Digital technologies leave a digital trail that can be used as evidence of a committed crime and can be reported more easily. The most important thing is not to silence hate speech, especially on the Internet, not to continue scrolling when we see homophobic content or cyberbullying, not to turn a blind eye to discrimination and violence, but to react against the perpetrator and support the victim," the manual concludes.

"Digital activism against hate speech - a manual in the fight against e-homophobia/biphobia/transphobia, hatred and violence" it was created as part of the project "Together against Prejudice!", which is implemented by the CGE with the financial support of the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights.

"The goal of the project is to improve the level of acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people by citizens of Montenegro in order to improve the position of LGBTIQ+ people in Montenegrin society, and consequently to increase the number of self-identified LGBTIQ+ people who freely live their identity," the announcement concludes.