More than three billion people today connect to the Internet globally, and almost 68% of them are active on social networks, representing 28% of the world population. In the United States alone, almost three-quarters of adults use social networking sites, and more than half of Facebook and Twitter users get their news through those sites.
With the number of users constantly growing, social networks have become a target for the spread of hate speech and extremist propaganda. Never before in history have people been able to propagate incendiary speech in such effective way. As history has shown, rhetorical excesses can give rise to a climate of prejudice, discrimination and violence, and creative measures are needed to counter hate speech globally.