Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 14
Posts 1 - 10

Germany springs to action over hate speech against migrants

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 6.1.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, cyberbullying, Facebook, law, politics, social media
Summary | Facebook has recently decided to comply with German law rather than their own corporate policies when it comes to hate language on their platform contributed by users from Germany. Germany is very strict about prohibiting hate language against minorities. Critics say this is a step in the wrong direction towards censorship.
Image Description | Protest crowd holding a canvas.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), text

In the Apple Case, a Debate Over Data Hits Home

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 13.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, politics, privacy, research/study, smartphone, threat
Summary | Apple's refusal to aide the FBI with breaking into the phone of the San Bernardino attacker has unleashed a political debate among Americans. IT experts as well as lay people report that they have had discussions about the topic with other people, some say they have had fights over Facebook with family members about the issue. Polls show that the American people are hugely divided on the topic: 42% think Apple should cooperate with the FBI while 47% support Apple's stance to protect user privacy.
Image Description | Getty image of a protest crowd showing a man holding up his smartphone with the text: "Don't turn our phones into FBI drones".
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, text

Merkel says big internet firms 'distort perception': Chancellor demands Facebook and Google make their algorithms public

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Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 28.10.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | Facebook, Google, marketing, politics, privacy
Summary | Merkel wants Facebook and Google to be more transparent and reveal the algorithms that select stories people see. She claimed that those algorithms distort our perception of reality. Internet giants don't agree with that; they said that viewers have access to a wide range of opinions.
Image Description | Photograph of Angela Merket speaking at a conference, photograph of the Facebook logo with the reaction buttons, and Twitter logo.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), logo, Twitter

So kämpfen Fraktionslose um Aufmerksamkeit

(This is how independent politicians vie for attention)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 31.10.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | Facebook, politics
Summary | Politicians who are not affiliated with any established party have a hard time being heard by potential voters. They have now discovered Facebook. Publishing their candidacy and their political view on policies on Facebook gets them a lot of attention. Some even pay money for Facebook to advertise their accounts.
Image Description | Image of the parliament chamber of Hamburg and portraits of the mentioned politicians.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

Afro-Frisur einer Schülerin wird zum Politikum

(Afro hair of a student becomes a political issue)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 2.9.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | diversity, Facebook, gender, hashtags, politics, school, Twitter
Summary | A black girl at a high school in Pretoria in South Africa was chastised for wearing her hair naturally in an afro. This resulted in a lot of backlash against the school on social media under the hasthag #StopRacismAtPretoriaGirlsHigh. As many as 28'000 people signed an online petition to end racism at schools and major polititians condemned the chastising of wearing natural black hair.
Image Description | A black woman doing another black woman's hair in a salon.
Image Tags | female(s)

Blue State

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 28.8.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, politics
Summary | Facebook users have maybe noticed that their facebook feeds have become bluer or redder, especially in the last year. They may have seen posts from celebrities, candidates themselves, unknown media sources, or friends. Facebook has also been a new source for political news. There are pieces of news that are only made for Facebook and that are made to reach Facebook users in particular. Media companies want people to share the posts they have in front of them; Facebook is thus an intermediary between publishers and audience. With the above strategy and the fact that Facebook users have access to their feeds all the time (through their smartphone), it became obvious that Facebook was more than just a source of news.
Image Description | N/A

Hausdurchsuchungen wegen Hass-Postings auf Facebook

(House searches because of hate posts on Facebook)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 13.7.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, politeness, politics, threat
Summary | The Bavarian police have issued multiple search warrants for the residence of people who have posted hateful comments on Facebook. In light of the recent refugee crisis, online hate has skyrocketed on Facebook with many people glorifying the Third Reich. Users who witness such behavior online are encouraged to report it both to Facebook and to the local police. Facebook has however been doing a poor job in keeping hate language off their platform.
Image Description | A tweet by a German government department explaining what a hate post is.
Image Tags | Twitter

Facebook, schlimm!

(Facebook, terrible!)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 26.3.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | Facebook, politics, threat
Summary | Facebook is seen as the root of all evil. The shift to more right-wing politics has happened because of Facebook. Such conclusions are questionable at best since a) Hitler did not have Facebook and managed to create a fascist regime without it and b) because the practice of scapegoating new media is as old as time.
Image Description | N/A

Arabische Frauen wehren sich gegen sexuelle Gewalt

(Arab women defend themselves against sexual violence)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 17.1.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | diversity, Facebook, gender, law, politics
Summary | Two women from Palestine have created a Facebook group called "Tuskuteesh" ("break the silence") where they want to give Arab women a space to tell their storiess of sexual violence. Much sexual violence goes unpunished in the Arab world because the perpetrators are often family members.
Image Description | Image of the Tuskuteesh Facebook logo and the cover of a book written by one of the group creators.
Image Tags | female(s)

Auf Facebook und Co. haben die Rassisten Hochkonjunktur

(Racists boom on Facebook and co. )

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Newspaper | Sonntagszeitung
Date | 7.2.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, politeness, politics, threat
Summary | Racists are much more vocal on social media. But social media are no lawless space - actions on Facebook or Twitter can also lead to legal persecution under the Swiss anti-racism law. Ever since the advent of social media, more cases of racism lead to conviction (usually just entailing a fee).
Image Description | N/A

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