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Report calls for action to address harassment online
New report calls for government action to address harassment online
A comprehensive new report from
ActionStation launched Monday examines the harm that
unmoderated and under-regulated online platforms are causing
New Zealanders.
The report, comprising of new
research, individual experiences, and expert opinions
highlights a damaging side of the internet, and makes the
case for more scrutiny of the role tech giants play in our
society.
Report findings include:
• One in
three Māori (32%), and one in five Asian (22%) and Pacific
(21%) people in New Zealand experience racial
abuse and harassment online (New research from
UMR);
• Analysis of comments sections during ‘Te
Wiki o te reo Māori’ shows Facebook and Stuff are allowing racism to
flourish on their platforms;
• YouTube hosts and promotes conspiracy
theories on Maori history, which have hundreds of
thousands of views;
• There are serious gaps in the Harmful
Digital Communications Act;
• Solutions could lie in indigenous thinking
and values.
ActionStation are calling for
government action to address gaps in current legislation.
The report includes recommendations and a petition calling
for the government to:
1. Remove:
Ensure platforms are active in removing harmful content
quickly. An investigation into the most effective method to
do this would be required, but the responsibility should be
placed on the platform, not the
users.
2. Reduce: Limit the reach of
harmful content. Neither the platforms nor the users who
create hateful and harmful content should benefit from
algorithms that promote divisive and polarising
messages.
3. Review: The New Zealand
government needs to review our hate speech laws, the Harmful
Digital Communications Act, the Domestic Violence Act, the
Harassment Act and the Human Rights Act to ensure they are
fit for purpose in protecting people online in the 21st
century.
4. Recalibrate: One of the most
significant themes to emerge in this research was the need
to attend not just to individualised concerns (e.g.
individual rights and privacy) but also to collective
dynamics and wellbeing. Any policies that are developed to
protect people online need to have indigenous and
collectivist thinking at their centre.
“Social
media companies have done a great job of connecting whānau
and friends around the world. But they also provide a
powerful and relatively cheap way for groups and individuals
to spread hate, fear, abuse and misinformation across time
and space, and without transparency.” says ActionStation
Director and report author Laura O’Connell
Rapira.
“The spread of disinformation and the
damaging impact on democracies overseas is well established.
What our research starts to show is that online
misinformation, particularly around Māori and New Zealand
history, is rife and causing harm here too.”
The
report includes insights from 69 people who detailed their
experiences with online hate and harassment, expert opinion
from Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley about the need to
review and improve our hate speech laws, and a detailed account
of the online abuse faced by Lani Wendt Young for her work as a
writer and journalist.
The foreword is written by
esteemed economist Shamubeel Eaqub who says, “Being online
is a misnomer. It’s like walking on footpaths and driving
on roads - part of everyday life. Yet we seem to treat
online as a separate space rather than an extension of
everyday life.”
“The solution is not just for
people to log off or put their phone down. Many of us rely
on the internet for connection, employment and information.
The solution is government regulation.” says O’Connell
Rapira.
The full report is available to read at www.peopleharassmentreport.com
The
full results of the UMR research is available here.
ENDS
ActionStation
Our mission is to tautoko (support) and whakamana (uplift) everyday New Zealanders to act together in powerful and coordinated ways to create what we cannot achieve on our own: a society, economy and democracy that serves all of us - everyday people and Papatūānuku, the planet we love.
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