Digital’s role in our lives has reached new heights, with more people spending more time doing more things online than ever before. At the click of a button, we can shop for groceries, book for appointments and our dinner delivered straight to our door.

Basic social interactions have been replaced by apps and, therefore, it comes as no surprise that some people find it so easy to attack someone they’ve never met online. In a few seconds, they can whip up an offensive comment and press send without so much as an afterthought as to what effect their words might have.

Let’s face it, anyone with internet access can create a profile and write, tweet, blog or comment, with little vetting and no hurdle of technological skill.

So where does that leave us? Right now, there is a heated debate ongoing in Europe about the clear line between hate speech and free speech. Unfortunately, in this day and age, some still fail to recognise hatred as a criminal offence. Some might argue that it is difficult to strike a balance between freedom of speech and harmful expressions.

No matter where you stand on this issue, the fact is that the effects of hate speech and hate crime are increasing at an alarming rate in the EU and have actually worsened as a result of the pandemic.

As a result, this phenomenon is weakening the foundations of any pluralistic democratic society. 

It is my belief that the battle against hate crime and hate speech must start from our own backyard, in cooperation with public institutions and law enforcement authorities. When victims do not report incidents to the police or at least victim support services, they have no access to protection, support and justice. 

Unreported hate crime and hate speech cases remain high- Brian Farrugia

Unreported hate crime and hate speech cases remain high and, thus, these crimes cannot be investigated and prosecuted.

On the other hand, reporting ultimately assists the local authorities in delivering on their duties with regard to combatting hate crime.

The effects brought about by hate crime and hate speech do not stop with the individual person or the impacted community but are perpetuated from one person to another, one family to another, one nation to another.

The mapping of these crimes, including those committed online is essential. A recent good initiative led by the European Commission, in collaboration with social media platforms, brought about a transformation in the online search engine as we know it.

Experts noted that most people tend to do a lot of online searches on hate related contents and, therefore, came up with the idea to redirect this interest towards an educational based content online search while automatically deleting any illicitly uploaded contents, including the use of words in different European languages that may incite violence or hatred.

This shows that there are different ways and means of combatting this kind of harassment and limiting its destructive power on vulnerable members of the community. Reporting will help us to address the invisibility of hate crime and allows for the collection of hate crime data.

Moreover, it would offer the victim better protection and facilitate effective access to victim support services,  which are meant to restore the victim’s former quality of life and seek justice. That is why we, at the Victim Support Agency, are doing our utmost to increase visibility on the services.

Make no mistake, everyone can be a victim of hate speech, therefore, we must all be aware of what support is available. As we head into 2022, I encourage everyone to be more mindful of what is said online and appeal to readers to reach out to us if they find themselves in a situation where they might need our help.

The people at the Victim Support Agency are ready to help, no matter the day or time. Reach out to us on 2568 9700 or on vsasupport@gov.mt.

Brian Farrugia is CEO of the Victim Support Agency