The internet offers a lot of freedom, unfortunately also for hate attacks. Our project shows that anyone can become a victim of hate.
The internet enables us to connect with others almost without restriction, to freely exchange and present ourselves with others. But it is increasingly being misused to divide society, to exclude people or to deliberately humiliate them. The digital space is far too often a place of hate speech and cyberbullying. Anyone can become a victim here - celebrities as well as private individuals - and the number of those affected is increasing rapidly.
A project shows that anyone can become a victim of hate
With an experiment, Telekom is showing how easy it is to become a target for hate on the Internet. Very different young people were invited to the event “Dreamjob Influencer”. The candidates had the chance to convince a community of around 1,000 online users with their individual performance on the subject of rap, beauty, fashion, comedy and the like. The candidates were surprised by a flood of hateful comments from the community. What they didn't know: the entire event was staged. There was no community at all. The hate comments, collected in advance in social networks and prepared for the experiment, were recorded by an editorial team under psychological supervision.
Telekom is fighting for a network without hate
As Germany's leading network provider, it is our social responsibility and our self-imposed duty to act here. That is why we fight for a hate-free network in which we treat each other with respect. And we are only satisfied when everyone in the digital space can #takepart without fear. Telekom stands by the side of all those who are oppressed and marginalized by the misuse of digital technologies with full conviction. That is why we support initiatives that specifically target the digital exclusion of individuals and thus do our part to improve the situation for as many as possible. So #takepart with us and our partners to fight for a network without hate.
