We can create a Safe Digital City

The time has come for municipalities to create a safe digital city and conversation – and themselves act, prevent and counteract hatred, extremism and racism online.

 

 

 

WE CAN CREATE A SAFE DIGITAL CITY

Together with Malmö municipality, we have set out to create a safe digital city. Here and many other places, hatred flourishes online and harms people. It persists untouched, legitimises and normalises the extreme conversation, radicalises, and leads to violence in the streets. Therefore, the time has come for municipalities to create a safe digital city and conversation – and themselves act, prevent and counteract hatred, extremism and racism online.

This is what our SAFE DIGITAL CITY concept is about. We have initiated a pilot of this together with Malmö municipality and the national Swedish Center for the Prevention of Extremism (CVE). Our digital analytics partners are Analyse og Tal and Common Consultancy. In Malmö, we have just concluded the first analysis of the safety in the digital city, and we have gathered politicians, municipalities, police, faith communities, civil society and citizens to discuss how we are at the forefront of creating (new) online behaviour and dialogue online. This is done purposefully on the basis of (a lot of) online data about the conversation in Malmö’s digital city, which a specifically trained algorithm has collected for us.

This way, we can see exactly why and when the hate ‘peaks’; How much hatred there is in the digital city and at who it is aimed. And not least: Where on social media and the web, it particularly exists, and we must be (especially) present to help increase safety. Like on the street. It is new and difficult terrain for preventive actors to act online. It takes time and requires courage and digital innovation. As far as we can see, Malmö is the first place in the world, such a concept has been initiated for an entire city’s preventive actors on the basis of huge amounts of online data that only pertains to Malmö city.

The first analysis about safety in Malmö’s digital city is out now, and the content is rough. As many as 97 percent of the hateful comments are directed at ethnic minorities. Especially people with Muslim backgrounds from the Middle East and North Africa are targeted. Read more about the analysis as well as some of the articles it has fostered below.

We hope and expect that Malmö will be the first of several cities in Nordic Safe Cities that transforms their prevention of extremism to also reach out online and over the next year take new steps towards a safer digital city. Because that is what is needed, and it is possible to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published on March 27, 2021

Jeppe Albers,
Founder and Executive Director,
Nordic Safe Cities