Hate Speech on Chess.com: A Form of Abuse and Harassment
No one should ever have to accept or live with any form of abuse or harassment. It is never the fault of the person being abused or harassed.
Chess.com's Community Policy prohibits abuse, attacks, threats, discrimination or mistreatment of others in any way. If you witness or experience abuse or harassment you should report it immediately.
Hate speech is one type of abuse and harassment that can take many forms online and is particularly hurtful and harmful to those targeted. In fact, many countries have laws against it. If allowed to persist, hate speech can lead to stigmatization, discrimination and large-scale violence in addition to the direct emotional impact to those targeted.
Hate speech is an attack against human rights and may be weaponized for political gain.
Hate speech is any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or group on the basis of who they are (i.e. identity factors). Source: UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech.
What does that mean?
- Hate speech can be conveyed through any form of expression, including images, cartoons, memes, objects, gestures and symbols and it can be disseminated offline or online.
- Hate speech is “pejorative” (prejudiced, contemptuous or demeaning) or “discriminatory” (biased, bigoted or intolerant) of an individual or group.
- Hate speech calls out real or perceived “identity factors” of an individual or a group, including: “nationality, race, disability, religion, age, gender and sexual orientation” but also characteristics such as language, economic or social origin, health status, or immigration status, among many others.
Target
Victims are often deliberately chosen because of the identity they are perceived to have. These identity factors include:
- Nationality
- Race
- Disability
- Religion
- Age
- Gender
- Sexual Orientation
Attack
Attacks use negative words or phrases, slurs, derogatory terms or discriminatory language, imagery or audio. Attacks include:
- Calls to violence
- Dehumanization (comparison to filth/disease, comparison to animals, designated dehumanizing comparisons, references to sub humanity, mocking hate crimes)
- Statements of inferiority (physical, mental or moral)
- Expressions of contempt
- Expressions of disgust
- Exclusion and segregation
- Negative use of slurs
About AwesomeAtti: I have been a user on chess.com for over 10 years. I am a volunteer moderator at chess.com, not a paid employee. You can find my chess blog at https://www.chess.com/blog/AwesomeAtti. The views and opinions expressed in my blog are my own and not chess.com's.
