Hate Crime Awareness Week
Hate Crime Awareness Week: A blog from Lionel Idan, CCP for London South | The Crown Prosecution Service view his blog here
Read more...Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to tackle hate speech against Polish people on social media after a rise in online abuse.
Hatelab, based at Cardiff University, and Samurai Labs, a Polish company, are using the technology to monitor aggressive social media content.
More than 900,000 Polish people live in the UK. According to the BBC, there were more than 94,000 hate crimes recorded in England and Wales in 2017-18 - up 17% on the previous year.
Studies by Samurai Labs found 5% of material published about Polish people on social media had negative or offensive connotations.
Cardiff University said the artificial intelligence could "accurately differentiate between web aggression and harmless comments".
The BBC reported that a police investigation was launched after far-right graffiti was painted on buildings in Cardiff in 2018 (Pictured above).
Samurai Labs chief executive Michal Wroczynski said the AI could detect eight categories of abuse, from people being told to go home to threats to life.
Matthew Williams, director of Hatelab, claimed the technology was important because of an increase in hate speech since the 2016 EU referendum.
He said: "As the United Kingdom prepares to leave the European Union, using the most advanced methods of artificial intelligence is going to be vital in helping the authorities to quickly recognise warning signs and provide reassurance and security to the Polish community living here."
Warwickshire based charity, the Equality and Inclusion Partnership (EQuIP) support victims of hate crime and they strongly encourage any person that experiences or witnesses racism or any other form of hate crime to always report.
EQuIP have engaged with, and suppprted many people from Poland and other parts of eastern Europe have been affected by hate related crimes.
There are various ways for people to report hate crime, depending on how much information people wish to give.
You can ring the Police by calling 101 in a non-emergency situation, but always call 999 in an emergency.
In Warwickshire, some people do not wish to contact the police directly, so they can report hate crimes/incidents to EQuIP, who will protect a persons identity and not pass on any details of the report without prior consent.
Reports to EQuIP can be made online via the www.reporthatenow.com website, you can send an email: advice@equipequality.org.uk, or for those that prefer to speak to someone in person, you can contact telephone EQuIP on 01788 863117 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm).