When analysing a case of hate speech, you should also consider assessing the intent of the speaker who is spreading hateful messages. This will help you determine the action you should take to compensate for their expression. Intent can be extremely hard to determine, but the speaker’s past actions and their reaction after the speech are elements that can be rather easily determined.

 Criteria to be considered

Past actions of the speaker with regards to the group targeted by the expression

Looking into the past actions of the speaker towards the targeted group targeted can reveal whether the speaker holds negative feelings towards the group. If the speaker has fought for the rights of members of that group, then it is unlikely there were bad intentions behind the negative expression. The answer options, in order of severity: “Positive actions”, “Mixed actions / no actions”, “Negative actions”. When choosing the answer option, we recommend, when possible, to consider more recent actions of the speaker.

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Reaction of the speaker after promoting the hate message

The way speakers react after sharing hateful messages can also provide clues about their actual intentions (e.g. showing true remorse or continuing incitement). The answer options, in order of severity are: “Apologies offered”, “No reaction”, “Continued incitement”.

2021-03-22T12:49:00