The idea that platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram should remove hate speech is relatively uncontroversial. But doing this isn’t easy. Hate speech is fluid, dependent on cultural context and social meaning. To manage it, platforms must constantly re-evaluate hateful symbols and communicate with users about their decision-making.
Few examples illustrate this need better than the long, strange journey of Pepe the Frog, the crudely drawn comic-book amphibian that originated as a mascot for slackers; was repeatedly altered by white supremacists for racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic memes; was classified by the Anti-Defamation League as a hate symbol in 2016; and was repurposed this summer and fall by protesters in Hong Kong to promote a pro-democracy message that had nothing to do with white supremacy or terrorism.
Though exactly the same in appearance, the Hong Kong version of Pepe is a different frog. It provides a real-time demonstration of how hate speech can be defanged, based on shifting circumstances, expanded frames of reference and varied common usage.
At times, the targets of hateful terms have reworked or reversed them. Take a former epithet like “queer.” It originally had neutral connotations of general nonmainstream behavior before the early 1900s. “Queer” became associated primarily with homosexual men between the 1910s and 1920s, and became a slur. Beginning in the 1990s, AIDS activists re-appropriated the term as a signifier of self-identity, to highlight the ugliness of homophobia in order to confront it. “Queer” has generally regained a neutral or even positive connotation. For many, it stands for inclusivity. Similarly, the pink triangle, which was originally a badge used by Nazis to identify gay people, was transformed into a sign of pride.
Shifts like these have always happened. But today, thanks to meme culture, online audiences can flip hate speech on its head faster than ever. In April, the Spanish political party Vox tweeted a meme referencing “The Lord of the Rings”: a picture of Aragorn, digitally manipulated to include the party logo and a Spanish flag. Aragorn was facing down orcs, who sported symbols for feminism, communism, media outlets — and oddly, an Android ghost emoji striped with rainbow colors. Cunning users termed him Gaysper, and as the image went viral, he transformed from intended insult to a stance against hatred via mockery and humor.
Pepe, Gaysper and other once-hateful symbols teach us that tech companies should institutionalize impermanence — they should build their policies to continually adapt to the changing world. Those who call on the companies to take steps to stem the tide of xenophobia, racism and the targeting of minorities that we’re seeing around the world should keep this in mind as well.
Local activists in Hong Kong transformed Pepe into an emoji on encrypted platforms, dressed as a protester or a journalist. “Symbols and colors that mean something in one culture can mean something completely different in another culture,” a protester told The Times, “so I think if Americans are really offended by this, we should explain to them what it means to us.” Most seem to understand the frog to be a symbol of youth and were unaware of his link to the alt-right. If Google, Twitter and Facebook had built in photo recognition to take down all images of Pepe the Frog, the movement might have been robbed of a critical rallying cry.
So what can platforms do? First, they can fill the public information vacuum around hate speech policy. While platforms have been doing better at making broader commitments against hate, like Facebook’s recent announcement to take a wider view of hate speech and extremist-related content, what’s missing is the ground-floor view. Tech company terms of service don’t explain how, in practice, they decide if nonhistorical content is hateful or no longer hateful. They do not state how context shifts affect their operations. The public does not know if companies revisit their enforcement calculus and, more important, the contours of how that might occur.
Second, platforms should consider attaching a periodic expiration date to exclusionary actions. This is not to render them toothless but to provide a mechanism allowing company policy to recalibrate at given points, and adjust to the fluidity of the internet and evolving social mores. This can help the targets of hate speech as well. Companies may be more willing to act if everyone understands that their processes are constantly evolving.
Third, companies should be responsive to shifting memes, especially in volatile contexts. Human rights impact assessments are common best practices in corporate social responsibility, but this is not yet a regular activity for most tech companies, especially in the context of hate speech and its impacts. Platforms need to evaluate when it is more likely that content on social media will result in offline consequences — especially in risky situations like political unrest and around elections — and then quickly reallocate more of their staff members, time and attention to monitor trends and challenges in related content and respond quickly.
If common usage can change a comic strip into a hate symbol, then authentic engagement can similarly transform its meaning. If platforms want to protect their users from hateful content while ensuring that vital political expression isn’t affected, they should make hate speech policies that are informed by this reality.
Brittan Heller is counsel at Foley Hoag and a technology and human rights fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. She was the founding director of Technology and Society for the Anti-Defamation League.
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