European Youth Award 2017: BanHate
BanHate is the first mobile app enabling users to easily report hate speech occurring online, in times when fear-mongering and post-truth politics poison the public sphere.The four core areas include: reporting hate posts, monitoring reported posts via colour-coded up-dates, an educaitonal mission statement and organizational profile. BanHate aims to create a strong sense of community as people collectively oppose hate speech on social media and feel the impact of their actions. The attractive user interface is designed for simple five-step reporting. A registration process guards against misuse, maintaining reporter anonimity. Organizational info ensures full transparency. Users may share activities on facebook, but not the hate-post. Info pages sensitize users to discrimination, showing existing forms – sexual orientation, social status, disability, sex/gender, ethnicity, age, political opinion and religion – raising awareness of the impact of hate speech on society and of the importance of reporting. Scaling up from the local to the European level will offer lasting social impact. A clear winner.
