Victory
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An online hate speech survey in Pakistan has found that 92 percent of respondents have come across such content online, and 51 percent have been the target of it. Despite this, most were largely unaware of hate speech laws in Pakistan.
The survey, the first of its kind in the country, was commissioned by Bytes for All (B4A), a Pakistan human rights organisation, in an attempt to quantify the growing instances of online abuse taking place in the country's cyber sphere.
The report, penned by journalist Jahanzaib Haque, editor ofDawn.com, highlights the growing problem in context of booming internet penetration in the country, with an estimated 20 million users and 3G and 4G launches occurring in 2014.
"At the same time, this groundswell of online activity has seen the emergence of a dangerous trend -- that of unchecked hate speech, sometimes in the form of organised campaigns." The report here points to the social media reaction to the killing of Punjab Governor Samaan Taseer after he defended a Christian woman accused of blasphemy. Facebook pages appeared celebrating his murder.
Much of the hate speech identified by the report is religiously and culturally motivated, with 57 percent of respondents saying they had come across hate speech directed at Jews; 51 percent witnessing hate speech directed at Americans and 51 percent against Indians; 38 percent against Pakistanis and 24 percent against "other westerners" with Afghans close behind at 20 percent. Religious minorities, those from the LGBT community, women, politicians and members of the media were also in the firing line. In particular, 56 percent of people had come across hate speech directed at women, and 55 percent had come across hate speech directed at the LGBT community. 70 percent saw Shias become targets on social media, and 61 percent witnessed Ahmadis take the burnt. Increasingly, journalists and human rights defenders have also been the target of choice.
Of those who admitted to being targeted, 42 percent said it was because of their religion, 23 percent because of their nationality, 22 percent because of their race and ethnicity and 16 percent because of their sex/gender/sexual orientation.
Most of the damaging comments were made on Facebook, with 91 percent saying they'd witnessed it there. This, of course, could be largely put down to the platform's popularity -- if they were going to see it anywhere, chances are it would be on Facebook. But by way of a break down, the report showed how 30 Facebook pages contained 10,329 counts of hate speech among them. This might not sound so horrifying, until you realise the top ten Facebook pages for hate speech are run by mainstream media organisations or even political groups. A further break down shows Imran Khan's Facebook page featured 11 counts of hate speech per share and Zem TV (which broadcasts Pakistani talk shows) had 25.5 counts of hate speech per share. Of course, also in there was a page for Zaid Hamid, a political commentator who blamed the 2008 Mumbai attacks on "Hindu Zionists". He has a TV show, on which he has claimed the attacks were India's version of America bombing itself on 9/11.
92 percent of Pakistanis see hate speech online, says survey (Wired UK)
The survey, the first of its kind in the country, was commissioned by Bytes for All (B4A), a Pakistan human rights organisation, in an attempt to quantify the growing instances of online abuse taking place in the country's cyber sphere.
The report, penned by journalist Jahanzaib Haque, editor ofDawn.com, highlights the growing problem in context of booming internet penetration in the country, with an estimated 20 million users and 3G and 4G launches occurring in 2014.
"At the same time, this groundswell of online activity has seen the emergence of a dangerous trend -- that of unchecked hate speech, sometimes in the form of organised campaigns." The report here points to the social media reaction to the killing of Punjab Governor Samaan Taseer after he defended a Christian woman accused of blasphemy. Facebook pages appeared celebrating his murder.
Much of the hate speech identified by the report is religiously and culturally motivated, with 57 percent of respondents saying they had come across hate speech directed at Jews; 51 percent witnessing hate speech directed at Americans and 51 percent against Indians; 38 percent against Pakistanis and 24 percent against "other westerners" with Afghans close behind at 20 percent. Religious minorities, those from the LGBT community, women, politicians and members of the media were also in the firing line. In particular, 56 percent of people had come across hate speech directed at women, and 55 percent had come across hate speech directed at the LGBT community. 70 percent saw Shias become targets on social media, and 61 percent witnessed Ahmadis take the burnt. Increasingly, journalists and human rights defenders have also been the target of choice.
Of those who admitted to being targeted, 42 percent said it was because of their religion, 23 percent because of their nationality, 22 percent because of their race and ethnicity and 16 percent because of their sex/gender/sexual orientation.
Most of the damaging comments were made on Facebook, with 91 percent saying they'd witnessed it there. This, of course, could be largely put down to the platform's popularity -- if they were going to see it anywhere, chances are it would be on Facebook. But by way of a break down, the report showed how 30 Facebook pages contained 10,329 counts of hate speech among them. This might not sound so horrifying, until you realise the top ten Facebook pages for hate speech are run by mainstream media organisations or even political groups. A further break down shows Imran Khan's Facebook page featured 11 counts of hate speech per share and Zem TV (which broadcasts Pakistani talk shows) had 25.5 counts of hate speech per share. Of course, also in there was a page for Zaid Hamid, a political commentator who blamed the 2008 Mumbai attacks on "Hindu Zionists". He has a TV show, on which he has claimed the attacks were India's version of America bombing itself on 9/11.
92 percent of Pakistanis see hate speech online, says survey (Wired UK)
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