Online platforms have been blamed for fuelling extremist attacks and spreading hatred in their aftermath, but what can really be done to tackle this? Following the recent atrocity in Christchurch, Jacinda Ardern described social media platforms as “publishers not postmen”, but what can these platforms actually do to address the problem?
Facebook will now ban phrases such as “I am a proud white nationalist”, and artificial intelligence and expert monitoring have been proposed as solutions. This talk will explore the limitations of these, and the other real-world cultural, ethical and legal challenges. These will be examined through the lens of the attack in Christchurch and the Facebook response of the far right, as well as four other extremist incidents.
Dr Andre Obeler was recently featured on ABC news, 10daily and the 7:30 report.
This event is run in partnership with the Institute Of Electrical And Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Society On Social Implications Of Technology, the IEEE Computer Society and the UNSW Grand Challenge on Living with 21st Century Technology.
Andre is the CEO of the Online Hate Prevention Institute and a Senior Lecturer in the La Trobe Law School. He has been addressing the problem of online hate in social media since 2007.
He holds a PhD in computer science from Lancaster University (UK), a Master of Law from Monash University, and completed a Post Doctoral Fellowship in Political Science at Bar-Ilan University (Israel).
