A number of NGOs in Europe are pushing for the population to use China-style software to report instances of racism, hate speech and “digital violence” to them.
Progressive NGOs in Europe have been enlisting the general public to assist them in their crusade against so-called hate speech, with one organisation employing a China-style smartphone app to encourage people to tattle on those in breach of social progressive norms.
Rising to prominence in the German media thanks to its role in a recent sting operation rolled out against the police, censorious NGO HateAid has encouraged the public to report instances of what it calls “digital violence” to them using the organisation’s custom-built software.
According to a report by Der Spiegel, the investigation spearheaded by television show “ZDF Magazin Royale” and backed up by HateAid, found that some law enforcement officials either did not act sufficiently quickly on — or even recorded in some cases — instances of online “hate speech” that were brought to their attention by those involved in the operation.
This exposé has since resulted in criminal complaints being brought against some officers who are suspected of not acting in perfect lockstep with the various requirements and censorious demands of German law.
The organisation has since taken the opportunity to denounce police for allegedly ignoring reports of “clearly right-wing extremist comments”, as well as issue recommendations that German forces be reformed so as to act more promptly to prosecute “digital violence” which is in breach of the law.
However, seemingly not content with how effective censorious German state officials are on their own, the group has also been pushing the public to use their “ReportHeroes” app, which it describes as a tool which allows users to combat “all forms of digital violence, whether insults, defamation, sexist digital violence, hate comments or hate speech”.
Similar to a system rolled out by the Chinese Communist Party during the 2022 Winter Olympics which allowed users to report “politically sensitive” digital content direct to the nation’s authorities, the “ReportHeroes” app allows users to report any instance of “digital violence” they find on the internet to HateAid.
The organisation claims that all information sent via the app in this way is then checked by themselves, before being forwarded directly to a section of the Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor’s Office, where state authorities can then decide whether or not the netizen inm question has a criminal case to answer for.
“Very important: If you are not sure whether the comment is actually criminally relevant or not, remember: It is better to report too many than too few!” the organisation notes on their website.
Read More: New App Fights Hate Speech
