Harmful speech increased by 113% in November 2024, coinciding with the Sri Lankan Parliamentary Election held on 14 November, the UN in Sri Lanka said.
Publishing its latest Bulletin on Harmful Speech in Sri Lanka, the UN in Sri Lanka said it has observed an 8-fold rise in hate speech targeting ethnic and/or religious minorities following the declaration of results of the presidential election in September 2024.
It has also observed a 159% surge in gender-based harmful speech, with 45% of the harmful content in 2024 targeting women.
The UN in Sri Lanka further said that, however, a decline in harmful speech overall (year-on-year) was reported in the first 8 months of 2024.
The latest bulletin on harmful speech in Sri Lanka details these trends & the recent changes to social media policies that may impact online safety.
Per the trends from the latest bulletin, harmful speech increased by 21% month-on-month from 120 posts in August 2024 to 145 posts in September
2024.
This increase was mainly caused by an 8-fold rise in hate speech targeting ethnic and/or religious minorities that followed the declaration of results of the presidential election on 21 September.
Post-election harmful content included derogatory references to minority communities in the Northern and Eastern provinces, as well as the estate sector, in response to their voting preferences.
While marking a 15% month-on-month decrease, disinformation remained elevated in September.
According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, 70% of social media hate victims globally are minorities.
In Sri Lanka according to UN data, 51% of harmful speech online last year targeted women and 24% minorities.
Through collaboration with tech companies and active efforts of local organizations, targeted online campaigns against minorities have decreased since 2021 — an encouraging trend.
However, anti-Christian, anti-Muslim and anti-Hindu sentiments persist alongside harmful speech targeting women, especially those occupying public functions or those speaking up publicly.
Furthermore, events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Gaza have led to spikes in harmful speech online targeting specific communities, notably Muslims, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues.
Full report: https://srilanka.un.org/en/280126-countering-harmful-speech (Newswire)