PART FIVE: DISCRIMINATION AND EXPRESSION promotion of diversity may be especially important in the immediate aftermath of an incident of hate speech or incitement, and when tensions are escalating in a society.”1210 Such measures can be both remedial – that is, part of a governmental or institutional response to a specific incident or pattern of hate speech – and proactive – that is, directed at challenging prejudice, stigma, stereotypes and other drivers of discrimination. Both remedial and proactive measures have a strong basis in international law.1211 Indeed, States’ positive obligations to combat stereotypes, stigma and prejudice are the focus of part six of the present guide. ADDRESSING THE DISCRIMINATORY IMPACTS OF ALGORITHMIC SYSTEMS The emerging use of algorithmic systems by both public and private actors has fundamentally altered the way we live our lives. The actual and potential discriminatory and human rights impacts of the use of such technologies are myriad and as such have been the subject of important analyses by the special procedures of the Human Rights Council.1212 Role of algorithmic systems in spreading and fuelling hate speech PART FIVE Particularly concerning is the role of the use of algorithmic systems in spreading hate speech and incitement to discrimination and violence. In the 2021 thematic report on hate speech, social media and minorities, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues highlighted concerns with the business model of social media platforms, such as Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter, which aimed at maximizing profit by designing and using algorithms that enabled advertisers to target audiences with precision.1213 These systems amplify content to keep users engaged but “they are also echo chambers that are too often narrow sources of information and concentrate bias and prejudices”.1214 This model has the consequence of diverting individuals towards extreme, often hateful, obsessive content.1215 The Special Rapporteur referred to evidence that almost two out of three people who joined an extremist group did so because of the recommendations pushed forward by algorithms in social media, and noted that that had been the “driving force behind an explosion of hate, radicalization, dehumanization, scapegoating, incitement to genocide and advocacy of hatred that constitutes incitement to violence, hostility or discrimination against minorities in social media, leading to alarming increases in hate crimes and atrocities”.1216 The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance has also highlighted the reliance on these platforms by neo-Nazi and other white supremacist groups to recruit, raise funds and coordinate.1217 The use of algorithms has also been shown to contribute and accentuate the hate and harm experienced by groups exposed to discrimination. The Special Rapporteur on minority issues has highlighted examples of social media bots being manipulated into using Islamophobic and white supremacist slurs,1218 while the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar has noted the use of Facebook to exacerbate hate speech against the Rohingya.1219 1210 United Nations, United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech: Detailed Guidance on Implementation for United Nations Field Presences, pp. 5–6. 1211 See, for example, discussion of societal and institutional remedies in section II.D of part two of the present guide and discussion in chapter V of part two and chapters I and II of part six of States’ proactive obligations arising under provisions such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 7; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 5; and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 24. 1212 A non-exhaustive list of reports by special procedures relevant to new technologies is available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/SP/ List_SP_Reports_NewTech.pdf. 1213 A/HRC/46/57, paras. 68–69. 1214 Ibid., para. 68. 1215 Ibid., para. 69. 1216 Ibid., para. 70. 1217 A/HRC/41/55. 1218 A/HRC/46/57, para. 73. 1219 A/HRC/42/50, para. 72. 187