Ontario Tech, Facebook team up to fight online hate
Working to be part of the solution to eliminate online hate, Ontario Tech University’s Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism (CHBE) and Facebook Canada are creating the Global Network Against Hate.
The goal of the collaboration is to develop strategies, policies and tools to combat hate and extremism, including how it spreads and how to stop it.
Facebook will contribute $500,000 to the Global Network program over the next five years to help advance the centre’s work researching violent extremism.
Established in 2018 and led by Dr. Barbara Perry of Ontario Tech’s Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, the centre is emerging as an internationally recognized leader in studying the propagation and mitigation of ethnic, racial, gender and other forms of prejudice.
As a Canadian-developed solution, the Ontario Tech-based Global Network Against Hate broadens Facebook’s long relationship with Perry to identify hate organizations and their online presence. Previous consultations have helped Facebook develop policy and tackle the growing challenge posed by online extremism, including the banning of several Canadian hate organizations from the platform.
Global Network Against Hate objectives and outcomes include:
– Operating out of Ontario Tech University’s CHBE, the Global Network Against Hate will facilitate partnerships and knowledge dissemination in the areas of hate and violent extremism.
– The network will serve as the ‘go-to’ knowledge hub, providing high-level expertise to national, international and global partners through evidence-based education, training and programming.
– The network will stage a biannual conference to build cohesive solutions on the issue of hate, involving policymakers, law enforcement, industry, academics and anti-hate groups.
– Facebook’s $500,000 contribution will also fund the creation of a new position at the centre to facilitate global partnerships and knowledge sharing focused on researching, understanding and preventing hate, bias and extremism online and off.
The announcement was followed by an expert panel discussion on ‘Incel: The Rising Threat of Misogyny and Violence.’
In May 2020, a Toronto teenager became the first Canadian ever charged with terrorism after carrying out an involuntary celibate (incel)-inspired attack. Previous attacks allegedly inspired by the incel ideology have not been deemed terrorism. Incel is an online subculture focused on members’ perceived inability to find romantic or sexual partners.
At the extreme end of the movement are angry males who freely express misogyny across online networks. As numerous incidents have revealed, this hatred of women has the potential result of real-world violence. Research into online behaviour as an indicator of physical violence, and how to stop it is at the core of the Centre’s work.
Expert panel participants include:
– Dr. Steven Murphy, President and Vice-Chancellor Ontario Tech University;
– Dr. Barbara Perry, Director, Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism, Ontario Tech University;
– Dr. Irini Levit, Ontario Tech University, Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism;
– Dr. Erin Saltman, Policy Manager, Counter-Terrorism and Dangerous Organizations, Facebook;
– Brett Kubicek, Senior Director, Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence;
– And Maya Roy, CEO, YWCA Canada.