The Public Discourse Foundation is a joint collaboration between the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), the women’s organization Alliance F and the European Mercator Foundation, which promotes understanding between different cultures.
The foundation is the next stage of the Stop Hate Speech project run by Alliance F, ETH and the University of Zurich.
Since its inception in 2020, the project has already gathered 1,200 volunteers and developed the ‘Bot Dog’ App to monitor and counter hate speech in Switzerland.
The foundation will start working with media and civil society groups from April 1. “Science-based strategies and scalable solutions should help to reduce toxic language and promote constructive engagement,” the foundation’s leadership said on Monday.
“Hate speech is a threat to our democracy. We cannot have people being intimidated by a loud minority,” said Public Discourse Foundation managing director Sophie Achermann.
The first project of the foundation will be to develop algorithms that help the media with the challenge of moderating user comments – to encourage lively debate without abuse.
The challenge of finding the right balance was highlighted last year when Credit Suisse sued a financial blog over alleged abusive comments directed at the bank’s CEO.
More
More
Are you allowed to express your opinion?
This content was published on
What does freedom of expression mean to you and is it under threat where you live? We want to hear your thoughts.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
How to counter lies and propaganda in war zones
This content was published on
Disinformation has proved a powerful weapon in the Ukraine war. What's fuelling this digital assault on truth and what can be done about it?
UN body concerned at rise of racist hate speech in Switzerland
This content was published on
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) sees a rise in racist hate speech and racial profiling in Switzerland.
Swiss court sentences French comedian for anti-semitic sketch
This content was published on
Dieudonné M’bala M’bala was found guilty of using racist content in shows performed in Switzerland, including denying the existence of Nazi gas chambers.
Why Switzerland should be doing more to fight racism
This content was published on
The UN has pointed its finger at a lack of clear Swiss legislation to tackle racism as well as the lack of enough accessible recourse for victims.
Freedom of expression: universal, but not absolute
This content was published on
Under threat in many countries and pushed to its limits elsewhere, freedom of expression as we know it is at a critical crossroads.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.