8 out of 10 Koreans Say "Online Hate Speech Is Serious"

Human Rights Commission Announces Results of 'Online Hate Speech Awareness Survey'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] A survey has revealed that nearly 8 out of 10 people view the issue of online hate speech as a serious problem.

According to the results of the 'Online Hate Speech Awareness Survey' announced by the National Human Rights Commission on the 2nd, 79.3% of respondents considered the issue of online hate speech to be 'serious,' which is higher than the offline figure of 67.2%. The places where people encountered online hate speech were internet news articles and comments (71.0%), personal broadcasts such as YouTube (53.5%), community bulletin boards (47.3%), and SNS (35.9%), in that order.

However, most respondents reacted passively even after encountering such expressions. While 73.5% thought 'it was an expression with a problem,' 73.8% either 'did not respond' (40.2%) or 'avoided it' (33.6%). As measures to respond to online hate speech, the majority agreed on 'establishing easy reporting and action procedures' (89.5%), 'strengthening education such as digital literacy' (87.5%), and 'active review and action by related organizations' (87.3%).

Additionally, more than half of the respondents (59.5%) said that hate and discrimination in our society have increased since COVID-19, and they predicted that social conflicts due to hate and discrimination will worsen (90.2%), could lead to crimes (87.7%), and that the freedom of minorities will be restricted (79.5%).

The most frequently cited solution to resolve hate and discrimination in our society was 'politicians and the media refraining from expressions or reports that could incite hate' (90.3%). Expanding hate and discrimination prevention education in schools (89.9%) and strengthening education and campaigns to improve awareness of hate and discrimination (89.4%) were also mentioned.

Meanwhile, this survey was conducted by the National Human Rights Commission through Realmeter, a professional polling agency, from May 20 to 25, targeting 1,200 people aged 15 and older nationwide using a wireless mobile survey method. The sampling error is ±2.8 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.