Our No Hate Speech campaign, which we launched in the summer of 2020, continued in 2022. Our goal with the campaign is to send a signal and promote an internet in which everyone can enjoy the vast opportunities of the digital world – without having to fear marginalization or hate speech.
During the reporting year, the campaign focused on being “Louder than the hate” (only available in German). Studies show that only around five percent of online users account for the massive spread of online hate. That’s why we developed a TV ad in the reporting year to address the other 95 percent. With the messages “Let’s be louder than the hate!” and “When love is loud, hate doesn’t stand a chance,” we focused on civil courage online and called upon everyone to stand up for an internet where everyone is respectful with one another. The TV ad was supported by partners like the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, CORRECTIV, #ichbinhier, and Gesicht Zeigen! Für ein weltoffenes Deutschland e.V.
In 2022, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, under the hashtag #Unhate we used artificial intelligence to turn online hate speech into aesthetic works of art, thus depriving it of its toxicity. The result is a peaceful statement for more respectful interaction with one another.
To lend additional visibility to this topic, Magenta Telekom from Austria used the most recent amendments to its General Terms and Conditions in May 2022 to embed a clear stand against online hate speech within it. Customers are now warned about potential criminal penalties for spreading hate speech directly in the General Terms and Conditions. It also contains information about recommended measures for victims of hate speech and where to report it.
During the reporting year, we also continued our commitment to promoting civil courage and constructive dialog on gaming platforms. Together with the esports organization SK Gaming and the esports player foundation, we launched the initiative #equalesports in 2021 to promote greater diversity in esports and gaming. The initiative aims to support the participation women and non-binary people, who are particularly frequent targets of hostility, in professional and amateur sports. The two-day Equal eSports Festival, which took place in the fall of 2022, addressed the topics of diversity, esports, and gaming. After its successful premiere in Berlin in 2021, the Equal eSports Festival took place as part of Digital X (only available in German) in Cologne this year. Our contribution included organizing workshops and panel discussions.
In addition, we support initiatives that work to combat marginalization and cooperate with NGOs that are working in support of our aim of strengthening democracy and embracing diversity in society. Also, with our own measures aimed at online civil courage, we call on society to support us in this commitment.
In 2020, we founded an internal network with the aim of making our aspiration “we have no room for marginalization and racism” come alive within our company. Within this network, representatives from various areas, such as “internal communications,” “threat management,” “compliance,” and “human rights,” are working together to ensure that preventive measures are implemented, and that potential incidents in the company are taken seriously and transparently scrutinized. We also help to ensure that a solution in the best interests of those involved is always found quickly.
We also carried out various workshops for our employees on the subject of “online hate speech” – including workshops for apprentices and dual students. School students taking part in the digital internships that we introduced in 2021, as the only company to do so, were also invited to take part in our workshops. These addressed the topics of digital democracy, civil courage, and racism. Due to the pandemic, some of the workshops were held online.
Digital Crime – When Words Become Weapons In 2021, in an effort to reach relevant new target audiences, we published the six-part podcast series Digital Crime – When Words Become Weapons (Digital Crime – Wenn Worte zur Waffe werden) on all leading podcast channels. In each episode, we hear from a person who has experienced hate speech online and describes what that was like. Also, experts put the cases in proper perspective, and – as is customary in true crime podcasts – discuss the legal issues the cases raise. In the first episode, we hear from Jay (who also stars in our spot for the No Hate Speech campaign) about sexual self-determination and hate speech. Other episodes focus on topics such as hate speech in local politics, in gaming, and against women. And the episode “When customers become haters” (Wenn Kunden zum Hater werden) discusses this issue in the context of our own customer service. In 2022, the second season of Digital Crime won the audio prize of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia in the category “Respectful interaction on the internet” (Respektvoller Umgang im Netz).
With our No Hate Speech campaign, we generated around 1 040 million media contacts in 2022, and reached more than 4 million people – either directly or via multipliers such as parents and educators, for example, in workshops (2021: 3.8 million).
Our No Hate Speech campaign, which we launched in the summer of 2020, continued in 2022. Our goal with the campaign is to send a signal and promote an internet in which everyone can enjoy the vast opportunities of the digital world – without having to fear marginalization or hate speech.
During the reporting year, the campaign focused on being “Louder than the hate” (only available in German). Studies show that only around five percent of online users account for the massive spread of online hate. That’s why we developed a TV ad in the reporting year to address the other 95 percent. With the messages “Let’s be louder than the hate!” and “When love is loud, hate doesn’t stand a chance,” we focused on civil courage online and called upon everyone to stand up for an internet where everyone is respectful with one another. The TV ad was supported by partners like the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, CORRECTIV, #ichbinhier, and Gesicht Zeigen! Für ein weltoffenes Deutschland e.V.
In 2022, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, under the hashtag #Unhate we used artificial intelligence to turn online hate speech into aesthetic works of art, thus depriving it of its toxicity. The result is a peaceful statement for more respectful interaction with one another.
To lend additional visibility to this topic, Magenta Telekom from Austria used the most recent amendments to its General Terms and Conditions in May 2022 to embed a clear stand against online hate speech within it. Customers are now warned about potential criminal penalties for spreading hate speech directly in the General Terms and Conditions. It also contains information about recommended measures for victims of hate speech and where to report it.
During the reporting year, we also continued our commitment to promoting civil courage and constructive dialog on gaming platforms. Together with the esports organization SK Gaming and the esports player foundation, we launched the initiative #equalesports in 2021 to promote greater diversity in esports and gaming. The initiative aims to support the participation women and non-binary people, who are particularly frequent targets of hostility, in professional and amateur sports. The two-day Equal eSports Festival, which took place in the fall of 2022, addressed the topics of diversity, esports, and gaming. After its successful premiere in Berlin in 2021, the Equal eSports Festival took place as part of Digital X (only available in German) in Cologne this year. Our contribution included organizing workshops and panel discussions.
In addition, we support initiatives that work to combat marginalization and cooperate with NGOs that are working in support of our aim of strengthening democracy and embracing diversity in society. Also, with our own measures aimed at online civil courage, we call on society to support us in this commitment.
In 2020, we founded an internal network with the aim of making our aspiration “we have no room for marginalization and racism” come alive within our company. Within this network, representatives from various areas, such as “internal communications,” “threat management,” “compliance,” and “human rights,” are working together to ensure that preventive measures are implemented, and that potential incidents in the company are taken seriously and transparently scrutinized. We also help to ensure that a solution in the best interests of those involved is always found quickly.
We also carried out various workshops for our employees on the subject of “online hate speech” – including workshops for apprentices and dual students. School students taking part in the digital internships that we introduced in 2021, as the only company to do so, were also invited to take part in our workshops. These addressed the topics of digital democracy, civil courage, and racism. Due to the pandemic, some of the workshops were held online.
Digital Crime – When Words Become Weapons
In 2021, in an effort to reach relevant new target audiences, we published the six-part podcast series Digital Crime – When Words Become Weapons (Digital Crime – Wenn Worte zur Waffe werden) on all leading podcast channels. In each episode, we hear from a person who has experienced hate speech online and describes what that was like. Also, experts put the cases in proper perspective, and – as is customary in true crime podcasts – discuss the legal issues the cases raise. In the first episode, we hear from Jay (who also stars in our spot for the No Hate Speech campaign) about sexual self-determination and hate speech. Other episodes focus on topics such as hate speech in local politics, in gaming, and against women. And the episode “When customers become haters” (Wenn Kunden zum Hater werden) discusses this issue in the context of our own customer service. In 2022, the second season of Digital Crime won the audio prize of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia in the category “Respectful interaction on the internet” (Respektvoller Umgang im Netz).
With our No Hate Speech campaign, we generated around 1 040 million media contacts in 2022, and reached more than 4 million people – either directly or via multipliers such as parents and educators, for example, in workshops (2021: 3.8 million).