The Online Civil Courage Initiative seeks to build resilience and mitigate the harm that hate and violence does to relationships, social platforms, targeted groups, and our day-to-day lives.
In 2016, Facebook launched the Online Civil Courage Initiative as a platform for politicians, civil society, and other industry leaders to join the fight against hate speech while protecting free speech and human rights.
Today we build on that platform by focusing on teaching the counterspeech and resiliency skills necessary to push back against hate, extremism, and racism. By focusing on data and individual impact, we can shift the perception that bad actors make the rules - and speak for the majority.
OCCI develops digital civil courage so more people will stand up when targeted groups are insulted, threatened, or defamed.
This is achieved through:
OCCI is engaged with over 100 anti-hate and anti-extremism organizations and has reached over 3.5 million people on its Facebook page.
A Counterspeech lab launched by the OCCI and like-minded NGOs developed a meme campaign that encouraged online participation and over 237,000 views.
"Hate and extremism online are problems that affect all of us. That is why it is so important that solutions and counter strategies include different perspectives and approaches: That is exactly what the Online Civil Courage Initiative can do. By bringing together representatives of politics, business, science and civil society and by facilitating cooperation, new approaches can be developed and synergies created."
Sina Laubenstein,
No Hate Speech Movement Germany