You have the right to enjoy your life without facing hate crimes and/or hate speech. As with other forms of discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes can occur during the use of technology.
Hate speech
Hate speech is any form of incitement or the spreading or justification of hate or violence against individuals or groups based on certain attributes. It is not protected by freedom of expression. This means that the State can lawfully prevent and punish expressions of hate speech.
Hate speech can be more easily spread online due to technology, for example, via social media or comments under news articles. Hate speech online is propagated and amplified because its effects are underestimated and because users on the internet consider themselves to have some impunity or protection through anonymity.
Most of the time, hate speech online will be considered to be to the same as hate speech when it is expressed “offline”, namely, in real life, and users spreading hate speech can be held accountable.
example When social media websites remove hate speech comments under a post about same-sex marriage, this is considered to be an acceptable restriction of freedom of expression. It is also acceptable that these commentators face criminal liability, as hate speech is a crime.
Hate crimes
Hate crimes are criminal acts motivated by a bias towards certain groups in society. These crimes differ from other crimes because of their motive. This means that hate crimes are not a unique group of crimes, but are crimes with additional characteristics.
There are many crimes that can be committed via technology and some of these crimes may be hate crimes.
example It can be considered a hate crime where someone unlawfully intercepts, records or observes a person’s messages, transmitted by electronic communications networks, with the aim of later using this information to spread religious hatred.
You can read more about hate crimes and hate speech, including your rights if you have experienced hate, in this Guide.