The main results of the kNOwHATE project, led by researcher Rita Guerra (CIS-Iscte), were presented on July 9 at Iscte-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa. The conference, with the exception of the guest speaker's speech, is available to (re)watch on YouTube via the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S4yA1sF9Ao
© 2024 José Sequeira | Iscte
Rita Guerra and Paula Carvalho (INESC-ID) highlight as one of the main conclusions of the study the existence of multiple hate speeches that mobilize different contents and use diverse linguistic-discursive strategies. The most veiled and subtle forms of expression are the most prevalent in the data analyzed, which included online comments from YouTube and Twitter (now X).
© 2024 José Sequeira | Iscte
The many resources developed under the project aim to help combat hate speech online. For example, a prototype that uses AI to automatically classify hate speech in written texts in Portuguese is available in open access. However, this prototype is still under development and is not free from error.
"This tool can be used in educational contexts, but essentially the main target audience is the 'silent majority', the ordinary citizen who doesn't necessarily have an engineering background and who may not even know what an algorithm is" said Rita Guerra.
Also aiming to inform about hate speech online and promote ways of countering it through counter-narratives, the project has developed a four-episode podcast and a dissemination campaign that includes a booklet and a flyer. Finally, a campaign of two videos developed by director Bruno Cabral (Garden Films) was released on the project's channels. With the aim of provoking reflection, one of the videos used artificial intelligence to create a hypothetical situation of hate speech against Portuguese people, based on real situations against other target communities. The second video gives voice to different target communities, calling out to fight hate speech.
© 2024 José Sequeira | Iscte
In what was the final conference of the project, a round table promoted discussion on the perspectives of the different communities targeted by hate speech. Moderated by the project's researcher Cláudia Silva (ITI-LARSyS), the panel included representatives from the project's partner organizations: José Falcão (SOS Racismo), Victor Costa (Casa do Brasil de Lisboa) and Sara Soares (ILGA Portugal).
© 2024 José Sequeira | Iscte
The program also included a keynote speech by guest Sahana Udupa, professor of Media Anthropology at LMU Munich University and a specialist in hate speech, who warned of the enormous limitations of current content moderation models based on machine learning, highlighting the need to invest in transparent, reflective and collaborative approaches to content moderation. The event ended with a brief reflection by the project coordinator and Helena Pereira de Melo, from the Observatory for Racism and Xenophobia (ORX).
© 2024 Sofia Rocha | Iscte
The conference was covered by a journalist from Público, who wrote a news piece about the project. Here is a wrap up video of the event:
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