Hatebase
What qualifies as hate speech?
Hate speech is difficult to quantify, but most people would agree with Justice Potter Stewart's famous sentiment: "I know it when I see it." Hatebase defines hate speech as any term which broadly categorizes a specific group of people based on malignant, qualitative and/or subjective attributes -- particularly if those attributes pertain to ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexuality, disability or class.
Further, hate speech must be in the common vernacular -- an anonymous definition on Urban Dictionary, or a word you heard once on Law & Order, does not hate speech make.
If undecided as to whether to add a piece of vocabulary to the database, take this test:
1. Does it refer to a specific group of people or is it a generalized insult? If the latter, it's probably not hate speech.
2. Can it potentially be used with malicious intent? If not, it's probably not hate speech.
3. Are there objective third-party sources online which can be used as citations? If not, it's probably not hate speech.
4. If you were to write a program which monitors hate speech on Twitter, would finding it in a random tweet be potentially meaningful? If not, it's probably not hate speech.
Further, hate speech must be in the common vernacular -- an anonymous definition on Urban Dictionary, or a word you heard once on Law & Order, does not hate speech make.
If undecided as to whether to add a piece of vocabulary to the database, take this test:
1. Does it refer to a specific group of people or is it a generalized insult? If the latter, it's probably not hate speech.
2. Can it potentially be used with malicious intent? If not, it's probably not hate speech.
3. Are there objective third-party sources online which can be used as citations? If not, it's probably not hate speech.
4. If you were to write a program which monitors hate speech on Twitter, would finding it in a random tweet be potentially meaningful? If not, it's probably not hate speech.
