Can we win the war against online hate?

Online platforms have been blamed for fuelling extremist attacks and spreading hatred in their aftermath, but what can really be done to tackle this? Following the recent atrocity in Christchurch, Jacinda Ardern described social media platforms as “publishers not postmen”, but what can these platforms actually do to address the problem?

Facebook will now ban phrases such as “I am a proud white nationalist”, and artificial intelligence and expert monitoring have been proposed as solutions. This talk explores the limitations of these, and the other real-world cultural, ethical and legal challenges. Dr Andre Obeler examines these issues through the lens of the attack in Christchurch and the Facebook response of the far right, as well as four other extremist incidents.

This discussion was recorded live for the UNSW Sydney Grand Challenges Program in partnership with the Institute Of Electrical And Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Society On Social Implications Of Technology, and the IEEE Computer Society.