A/HRC/46/57 77. In 2016, the European Union introduced a voluntary code of conduct on hate speech. 23 At the time of writing, it was also drafting a digital services act, 24 which may impose legal obligations and liabilities in recognition of the fact that, while social media and other online platforms already moderate illegal and harmful content, there remains little transparency, accountability or, in many cases, effectiveness. To date, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Dailymotion, Jeuxvideo.com and TikTok have joined the code of conduct. The fifth – and latest – round of monitoring of the code’s implementation, conducted in 2020, suggested that on average the companies were now assessing 90 per cent of flagged content within 24 hours and that 71 per cent of the content deemed illegal hate speech was removed.25 However, again, there remain concerns that the current process does not faithfully capture many forms of hate speech against minorities. 78. While it can be suggested that some two thirds of hate speech in social media targets minorities, the community standards or content moderation guidelines of most social media platforms pay little direct attention to minorities, or even fail to mention them specifically. TikTok’s Community Guidelines, for example, refer to matters such as “content that depicts or promotes the poaching or illegal trade of wildlife”, and defines hate speech or behaviour as “content that attacks, threatens, incites violence against, or otherwise dehumanizes an individual or a group” on the basis of attributes such as race, ethnicity and religion. 26 However, the Guidelines do not contain a single reference to the word “minority”. While “wildlife” legitimately gets a mention, minorities, unfortunately and counter-intuitively, do not, despite the fact that minorities are overwhelmingly the targets and victims of most hate speech in social media. 79. The above is not to suggest there have been no positive developments. Most social networks developed their content moderation rules on an ad hoc basis and only in recent years. Facebook first set down comprehensive internal moderation guidelines in 2009, but issued public guidelines only in 2018. There are increasingly indications that most owners of social media platforms are moving towards improving transparency and collaboration with civil society organizations on content moderation, including perhaps human rights impact assessments in some areas, and these efforts are to be commended. 27 However, the most glaring gaps remain the relative silence on the issue of greater attention to minorities as the main targets of hate speech, and few or no policy steps for their protection. One notable exception is the above-mentioned signal from Facebook that it was in the process of altering its algorithms to prioritize the flagging of hate speech targeting minorities. However, it is not known whether this change will be applied worldwide or on a more limited basis. F. Minorities and civil society organizations 80. Civil society initiatives, presence and involvement are essential in the modern world of communication and information through social media, and particularly since hate speech is mainly the scourge of minorities. Indeed, the United Nations also clarifies that the focus must be on those groups in situations of vulnerability due to entrenched or historic stigmatization, discrimination, long-standing conflicts, and exclusion and marginalization from the political, economic and social life of the society. 28 Most of these groups are 23 24 25 26 27 28 Available at https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/document.cfm?doc_id=42985. The code is very brief and quite general, does not define hate speech and makes no mention of minorities. European Commission, proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a single market for digital services (Digital Services Act) and amending Directive 2000/31/EC, 15 December 2020. Available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52020PC0825&from=en. See https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/combattingdiscrimination/racism-and-xenophobia/eu-code-conduct-countering-illegal-hate-speech-online_en. See www.tiktok.com/community-guidelines?lang=en#38. See, for example, OHCHR, “Public comment by UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues relating to cases on hate speech and minorities”, 23 December 2020. United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech: Detailed Guidance on Implementation for United Nations Field Presences (2020), p. 11. 15