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Our Commitment to Fighting Hate Speech [DISQUS]
Disqus Blog ^ | Feb. 8, 2017 | Disqus

Posted on 02/09/2017 11:14:35 AM PST by Theo

Free speech is a fundamental part of the Disqus network. We power diverse discussions across millions of websites, reaching billions of readers. Our platform enables people from across the web and around the world to share, discuss, and debate issues and their beliefs. Whether or not we personally identify with everything posted on our network, we believe in the right to speak our minds and share our ideas.

As a company, we encourage our team to speak their minds respectfully and promote diversity of thought. We are a team of varied backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs. The diversity of our team helps us to build solutions for publishers of all shapes and sizes. It makes Disqus a great place to work. And it is something that we strive to protect.

Recently, many passionate users have reached out to us regarding instances of hate speech across our network. Language that offends, threatens, or insults groups solely based on race, color, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or other traits is against our network terms and has no place on the Disqus network. Hate speech is the antithesis of community and an impediment to the type of intellectual discussion that we strive to facilitate.

We know that language published on our network does not exist within a vacuum. It has the power to reach billions of people, change opinions and incite action. Hate speech is a threat, not only to those it targets, but to constructive discourse of all forms across all communities. Hate speech creates fear, deters participation in public debate, and hinders diversity of thoughts and opinions.

We have the opportunity and the responsibility to combat hate speech on our network. Our goal is to foster environments where users can express their diverse opinions without the fear of experiencing hate speech. We persistently remove content that contains hate speech or that otherwise violates our terms and policies. However, we know that simply reactively removing hate speech is not sufficient. That is why we are dedicated to building tools for readers and publishers to combat hate speech, and are open to partnering with other organizations who share our goal.

We recently released several features to help readers and publishers better control offensive and otherwise unwanted content. User Blocking and User Flagging allow users to block and report other users who are violating our terms of service. Our new moderation panel makes it easier for publishers to identify and moderate comments based on user reputation.

Currently, we are working on improved tools to help publishers effectively prevent troublesome users from returning to their sites. And as we get smarter about identifying hate speech, we are working on ways to automatically remove it from our network.

As an organization, Disqus firmly stands against hate speech in all forms. To recap, in an effort to combat hate speech both on and off our network, we are making the following commitments:

1. We will enforce our terms of service by removing hate speech and harassment on our network. To report hate speech and other abusive behavior, please follow these instructions.

2. We will invest in new features for publishers and readers to better manage hate speech. We hope to talk more about this soon.

3. To support this philosophy, we will also be supporting organizations that are equipped to fight hate speech outside of Disqus. We are exploring several options and plan to dedicate portions of our advertising profits to fight hate speech.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Society
KEYWORDS: commenting; disqus; freespeech
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To: Theo

When Liberals say “hate speech” they mean “Conservative viewpoints.” Disqus is engaging in censorship.


21 posted on 02/09/2017 12:49:04 PM PST by Repeal 16-17 (Let me know when the Shooting starts.)
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To: Theo
...people are EAGER to see Breitbart's commenting system restricted because they consider it "hate speech."

OK...I have to let this sink in...I use DISQUS to comment on a number of sites because I don't do Facebook or other similar sites; no problem. I try to use it on Breitbart and it tells me that the site has blocked me from commenting, and that I should contact them with any complaints. Breitbart has not responded to a number of requests from me to be told what offense I committed. I did not post any differently on Breitbart than I do here or anywhere else. Any one else have this problem, or an idea of how I so greatly offended?

22 posted on 02/09/2017 12:59:05 PM PST by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Building the Wall, NOW!)
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To: LydiaLong
Hate speech, formerly known as ‘free speech.’

TRUTH- It's the new HATE SPEECH.

23 posted on 02/09/2017 1:01:08 PM PST by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Building the Wall, NOW!)
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To: Bitsy

You’re right. This is all just feel-good fluff from Disqus. The prevailing sentiment by blog owners/administrators who commented on the piece is if they (Disqus) unilaterally interferes with or attempts to moderate content, the owners will yank their chain instead - this I find encouraging.

I know what a drag it must be to be a moderator - especially on open sites (unlike FreeRepublic). They could use tools to help them do their jobs. They don’t need Disqus intruding.


24 posted on 02/09/2017 1:40:06 PM PST by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: Theo

We should all be debating the merits of economic and philosophical ideas.

But both left and right stoop to ad hominem all too often.

When the left doesn’t like the ad hominem or the debate on the merits or the humor of Milo, the Left plays the victim card to shut down the offender. The left repeatedly notifies the moderator of being offended.

Conservatives try to play the victim card, victims of the media, etc. But Conservatives are not skilled at how to play the victim card and kick ass. It takes professional victims to win as victims.

This is the society we live in.


25 posted on 02/09/2017 2:50:41 PM PST by spintreebob
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To: Mr. Douglas
That facebook page now has hundreds of friends, almost all of which are from Africa.

Were they all Nigerian princes who just needed you to forward a few hundred dollars so they could pay the banking expenses to share a million dollar windfall with you?

26 posted on 02/09/2017 3:09:50 PM PST by Albion Wilde ("January 20, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.")
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To: Albion Wilde

Lots of black young men and women with lots of selfies. And very proud of their stuff, even though it is very third world. I used google translate to determine that most of their posts are in Swahili.


27 posted on 02/10/2017 5:10:58 AM PST by Mr. Douglas (Best. Election. EVER!)
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