“HATEDEMICS” – Hampering hate speech and disinformation through AI-based technologies to prevent and combat polarisation and the spread of racist, xenophobic, and intolerant speech and conspiracy theories”.

Aim Of the Project

The aim of the project is to strengthen the preventive and reactive measures against hate speech and disinformation online. It aims to empower NGOs/CSOs, factcheckers, public authorities and youngsters as activists to effectively prevent and combat polarisation, the spread of racist, xenophobic and intolerant speech, as well as conspiracy theories.

Primary Objective of the Project

The project’s primary objective is to address online hate and fake news, with a specific emphasis on tackling the often overlooked and interrelated issues that intersect between hate speech and disinformation.

What we will do

We will raise awareness and improve skills and critical thinking by advancing AI-based technologies that:

1) monitor, detect and record hate speech and disinformation on social media.

2) estimate the ‘HATEDEMICS risk’ as the sum of the ‘hate speech and infodemics risks’, i.e. the online exposure to (potential) hate and misinformative messages

3) create dialogue-based counter-narratives that support professionals and activists and facilitate advanced reporting activities by implementing an effective human-in-the-loop approach, whereby automated suggestions are always validated by human operators, who always have the final say on the posted content.

4) automatically assess behavioural changes determined by the counter-narrative intervention. The combination of these technologies will allow for more focused and timely online interventions (i.e. advanced targeted search followed by relevant textual suggestions), resulting in a more efficient and effective professional and volunteer effort. This approach is based on maintaining fairness and balance and ensuring adherence to legal and ethical standards.

HATEDEMICS In Action

The project will:

• Develop and validate in 4 Member States the HATEDEMICS Platform, a toolsuite that brings together the partners’ expertise gained in hate and disinformation preventing and countering.
• Design and deploy interactive training and educational paths, informed by a commitment to EU values and rights
• Raise awareness and foster the active participation of EU-27 citizens.