Vol. 6 No. 12 (2019): Hate Speeches
Coordinators: Francisco Seoane Pérez (Professor at the University Carlos III of Madrid), Óscar Pérez de la Fuente (Professor at the University Carlos III of Madrid) and Katharine Sarikakis (Professor at the University of Vienna).
The so-called 'hate speeches' have taken on an unusual social importance in recent times. The rise in Europe and the United States of movements considered populist, sometimes characterised by language bordering on the offensive, as well as the anonymity provided by social networks to spread insults and derogatory comments to individuals and ethnic, sexual or religious minorities with almost total impunity, have contributed to a renewed academic interest in the limits to freedom of expression.
At the same time, the criminalisation of songs, art exhibitions or commentaries on social networks has raised considerable political and legal controversy, as it is understood that humour or social criticism, even when they incur in bad taste, are consubstantial with a liberal democracy. In this sense, excessive zeal in maintaining a civilised political discourse could end up creating a climate of ideological censorship that would curtail the vitality of democratic debate.
Closely related to hate speech is uncivil discourse, characterised by offensive expressions and undignified verbal attitudes. Discourse incivility is considered a relevant factor in the discrediting of the political class and in a decline in electoral participation, according to experimental research by Diana Mutz of the University of Pennsylvania.
The study of hate speech on the Internet during election periods is therefore particularly attractive, as legislators inevitably act on the back of unstoppable technological progress. The Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime, as well as its Additional Protocol on the criminalisation of racist and xenophobic acts online, have attempted to provide a standard of legal homogenisation for signatory countries. The question is whether spreading false news or rumours with the intention of undermining the credibility of an electoral rival should attract attention among regulators in a way similar to hate speech.
