Kolloquium Julian Bäumler: (Inter-)organizational Online Hate Speech Gathering, Analysis, and Response: A Qualitative Study with German Reporting Centers

Masterarbeit im Studiengang Internationale Studien / Friedens- und Konfliktforschung
von Julian Bäumler

Abstract:

Social media users are increasingly exposed to hate speech, with potentially serious consequences for both affected individuals and society. In Germany, reporting centers for hate speech and other illegal content assume a special function in governmental and civic counterstrategies. They forward reported content violating social media platforms‘ rules to the respective operator, submit content potentially criminally relevant to law enforcement agencies, provide counseling to victims, and, in some instances, proactively monitor social media platforms. Due to the high volume of hate speech content, they are heavily dependent on a functioning collaboration and adequate technology support. Thus the application contexts and requirements of prospective users of supportive technologies warrant attention. Whereas research in Human-computer interaction (HCI) and Computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) has extensively explored technology-enabled content moderation, there are no works systematically involving reporting center staff in the study of the activities of this type of organization. This thesis approaches this gap by empirically investigating through a qualitative content analysis of semi-structured expert interviews with reporting center staff (N=14) how information and communication technologies can contribute to online hate speech gathering, analysis, and response by German reporting centers. Moreover, it is explored how inter- and intra-organizational collaboration facilitates these activities. This work contributes to the state of research with observations on organizational structures, strategies, collaborative practices, and technology support (1), empirically substantiated challenges (2), and an ideal-typical workflow model (3) of the centers, as well as with design, research, and policy implications to improve their technology support and performance (4).

Betreuerin: Dr. Thea Riebe
Prüfer: Prof. Dr. Dr. Christian Reuter, Dr. Julian Junk