Hate speech and misinformation on social media are getting uncontrolled – that is what we should always do about it

“There comes a time when free speech can cause harm in real life, and that is when social media platforms must respond,” said former Danish Prime Minister and current Chair of the Meta Oversight Board Helle Thorning-Schmidt during a session at the TNW Conference 2024.

There is no better example of this than current events in Britain.

As the country grapples with outbreaks of violence by far-right groups in asylum centres across the country, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been keen to target not only those inciting violence, but also the platforms that enable them to spread misinformation and organise.

“I would also like to say to the major social media companies and their operators: outbreaks of violence that are fuelled online are clearly a crime. This is happening on your premises and the law must be respected everywhere,” he said at a press conference last week.

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The violence erupted after a 17-year-old from Cardiff murdered three young girls in a knife attack on July 29. According to a Reuters analysis, claims that he was an asylum seeker or immigrant had already been viewed at least 15.7 million times on X, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms before authorities released information about the suspect.

As a result, far-right activist groups organized and published a list of 36 targets, including immigration centers, law firms specializing in assisting asylum seekers, and asylum shelters.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness, whose region has been rocked by violence, yesterday echoed Starmer's call, urging ministers to crack down on “alien and irresponsible social media companies” that have enabled hate speech and unrest to spread online.

Ironically, X owner Elon Musk himself jumped into the fray earlier this week, posting “a civil war is inevitable” in response to a post that blamed the violent demonstrations on the effects of “mass migration and open borders.” The post has been viewed 9.6 million times so far.

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, has retracted a video he released the day after the stabbing at X, citing “some reports” suggesting the suspect was a migrant known to the security services. A week later, he has now retracted his statement and admitted that his “source” was extremist influencer Andrew Tate.

The balance between freedom of expression and hate speech

This is just one of many examples from around the world of the shitstorm that can spiral out of control in the age of social media. The world is now at the mercy of these platforms and their decisions on how best to strike a balance between free speech and hate speech.

As a former Prime Minister and current member of Meta’s Oversight Board, Helle Thorning-Schmidt was in a unique position to share her insights in a talk entitled “Democracy at Risk: 2 Million Voices in 2024”.

“I don't think we'll ever see another election without manipulated media,” Thorning-Schmidt said as voters around the world head to the polls. This year will be the ultimate test for social media platforms on how to deal with misinformation (including the rise of deepfakes) spread by both regular users and public figures. Should they be treated differently?

And with such a large global user base, how can these platforms maintain control over content moderation? While data shows that X in Europe has the lowest number of content reviewers per user, the task is not exactly easy for platforms like Meta, with 15,000 content reviewers working at both IG and Facebook (both of which have 260 million users in the EU). How can we use AI without putting this all-important task entirely in the hands of bots?

Read what Thorning-Schmidt and Murad Ahmed, technology news editor at the Financial Times, had to say about these topics and more on TNW All Access.