Social relevance of
the VigilHate project

Online hate speech has serious consequences, both at an individual and societal level. In addition to the effects on the psychological well-being of victims, enormous social costs, such as the normalization of discrimination, intolerance, polarization and violence between citizens, can be consequences of this phenomenon, threatening social cohesion as well as respect for fundamental European values. However, online hate speech is highly difficult to detect for many reasons, and it is almost impossible to know the real extent of such crimes. Consequently, it becomes difficult to act effectively against them. Despite the concern of national and international authorities to create preventive and combat measures, existing institutional social control mechanisms have proved to be ineffective or at least insufficient, as the phenomenon appears to be growing and worsening. In addition to the role of offenders (i.e., the perpetrator of misbehavior) and victims in aggravating this phenomenon (e.g., by not reporting the case), we emphasize the importance and key role of a third party involved: witnesses or bystanders. People who witness these crimes are not held accountable and often do not feel socially responsible for reporting them. This "silent" behavior of witnesses is socially, politically and legally neglected, is not discussed socially, people are not aware of their existence and of their own prejudiced behavior, and the consequences of this prejudice on society. Most intervention projects and programs to prevent and combat online hate speech focus on victims - to encourage them to report - or on offenders - to discourage them from such practices. However, little (or no) attention has been paid to witnesses, that is, to those who, passively or not, witness online misbehavior. By failing to report online hate speech, citizens are contributing indirectly to legitimizing and perpetuating its occurrence and to the misuse of social networks, since "silence consents". In fact, such passive or non-interventionist bystander’ behavior may represent, by itself, an indirect, but no less consequential, discriminatory practice against socially vulnerable groups. Thus, we intend to encourage ordinary citizens to be committed vigilantes and active bystanders against online hate speech, contributing to the promotion of a more responsible use of social networks.