Sigurbergsson, Gudbjartur Ingi, and Leon Derczynski. ‘Offensive Language and Hate Speech Detection for Danish’. (2020) [PDF]

Sigurbergsson, Gudbjartur Ingi, and Leon Derczynski. ‘Offensive Language and Hate Speech Detection for Danish’. Proceedings of the 12th Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, Marseille, France: European Language Resources Association, 2020, pp. 3498–3508.

The presence of offensive language on social media platforms and the implications this poses is becoming a major concern in modern society. Given the enormous amount of content created every day, automatic methods are required to detect and deal with this type of content. Until now, most of the research has focused on solving the problem for the English language, while the problem is multilingual. We construct a Danish dataset DKhate containing user-generated comments from various social media platforms, and to our knowledge, the first of its kind, annotated for various types and target of offensive language. We develop four automatic classification systems, each designed to work for both the English and the Danish language. In the detection of offensive language in English, the best performing system achieves a macro averaged F1-score of 0.74, and the best performing system for Danish achieves a macro averaged F1-score of 0.70. In the detection of whether or not an offensive post is targeted, the best performing system for English achieves a macro averaged F1-score of 0.62, while the best performing system for Danish achieves a macro averaged F1-score of 0.73. Finally, in the detection of the target type in a targeted offensive post, the best performing system for English achieves a macro averaged F1-score of 0.56, and the best performing system for Danish achieves a macro averaged F1-score of 0.63. Our work for both the English and the Danish language captures the type and targets of offensive language, and present automatic methods for detecting different kinds of offensive language such as hate speech and cyberbullying.

PDF: https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/2020.lrec-1.430.

Sedgwick, Mark. ‘Something Varied in the State of Denmark: Neo-Nationalism, Anti-Islamic Activism, and Street-Level Thuggery’. (2013)

Sedgwick, Mark. ‘Something Varied in the State of Denmark: Neo-Nationalism, Anti-Islamic Activism, and Street-Level Thuggery’. Politics, Religion & Ideology, vol. 14, no. 2, Routledge, June 2013, pp. 208–233.

The article argues that categories such as ‘Islamophobic’ and ‘Right Wing’ are inadequate and even misleading descriptors of reactions to Islam in Europe, and should be replaced by a distinction between neo-nationalism, anti-Islamic activism, and street-level thuggery. Neo-nationalism is a well-established but underused descriptor; anti-Islamic activism and street-level thuggery are more novel and are explored in the article. The article applies this three-fold distinction to the case of Denmark. It is argued that the neo-nationalist Danish People’s Party can be understood as a response to neo-nationalist views that are widespread among the Danish population. It is then argued that street-level thuggery, of which a small movement called Stop the Islamisation of Denmark is taken as an example, may be eye-catching, but is ultimately unimportant. Anti-Islamism, in contrast, may be important. Two Danish examples are examined: the very Danish Tidehverv movement, which shows how Christianity can still matter even in an apparently secular society, and the Free Press Society, a more influential Danish organization that is shown to be part of an international movement.

doi:10.1080/21567689.2013.792650.

Farkas, Johan, and Christina Neumayer. ‘“Stop Fake Hate Profiles on Facebook”: Challenges for Crowdsourced Activism on Social Media’. (2017) [PDF]

Farkas, Johan, and Christina Neumayer. ‘“Stop Fake Hate Profiles on Facebook”: Challenges for Crowdsourced Activism on Social Media’. First Monday, Sept. 2017.

This research examines how activists mobilise against fake hate profiles on Facebook. Based on six months of participant observation, this paper demonstrates how Danish Facebook users organised to combat fictitious Muslim profiles that spurred hatred against ethnic minorities. Crowdsourced action by Facebook users is insufficient as a form of sustainable resistance against fake hate profiles. A viable solution would require social media companies, such as Facebook, to take responsibility in the struggle against fake content used for political manipulation. 

doi:10.5210/fm.v22i9.8042.

https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/8042.

PDF: https://pure.itu.dk/portal/files/82174317/Manuscript_Revised_Farkas_and_Neumayer.pdf.

Hervik, Peter. ‘Ritualized Opposition in Danish Online Practices of Extremist Language and Thought’. (2019) [PDF]

Hervik, Peter. ‘Ritualized Opposition in Danish Online Practices of Extremist Language and Thought’. International Journal of Communication, no. 13, 2019, pp. 3104–3121. Zotero,

This article looks at extreme speech practices in Danish weblogs and Facebook comment threads that treat issues of refugees, migration, Islam, and opponents as a cultural war of values and conflict. The article highlights the ritualized ways in which anti-immigrant sentiments are being communicated, received, and responded to. Such recurrent ritualistic communicative patterns include the use of a distinct indignant tone, sarcasm, racialized reasoning, and the use of “high-fives,” as well as a general indifference to facts. The article argues that these online speech patterns can best be understood as a form of “ritualized opposition” that relies on extremist, divisive use of language and a naturalization of racialized difference in its attempt to recruit and consolidate communities of support.

PDF: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/download/9106/2713.

Lohmann, Jens, Klaus Slavensky, and Rune Engelbreth Larsen, editors. Hate speech : fra hadetale til hadesyn. (2013)

Lohmann, Jens, Klaus Slavensky, and Rune Engelbreth Larsen, editors. Hate speech : fra hadetale til hadesyn. Translated by Klaus m. fl. Slavensky, 1. udgave, Kbh.: Information, 2013.

I dæmoniseringen af sårbare mindretal støder ytringsfriheden på sin farligste grænse. Fra holocaust til Rwanda og Anders Behring Breivik viser historien, at etnisk udrensning, politiske mord, forbrydelser mod menneskeheden og folkedrab først bliver mulige gennem intensiv Hate Speech – Hadetale kan føre til hadesyn. En pen dyppet i had er forudsætningen for, at sværdet kan dræbe.  Hate speech sætter fokus på den såkaldte hadetale, der bl.a. florerer i den politiske debat, hvor især minoriteter står for skud. Det kan være seksuelle, etniske eller religiøse mindretal. Bogens essays trækker på synspunkter fra det litterære parnas, vurderinger af refleksioner fra det politiske overdrev og endelig præsenteres analyser fra det akademiske udsigtstårn. Det er kort sagt en antologi med fokus på hadetale, ytringsfrihed, demokrati, menneskerettigheder og humanisme. 

Indhold: Klaus Slavensky: Har vi ret til at hade? Thomas Brudholm: Om had og hadetale. Ursula Owen: Dræbende tale. Cecilie Banke: ‘Jødespørgsmålet’ i 1930ernes Danmark – fra undren til bekymring. Rune Engelbreth Larsen: Paralleller mellem antisemitisk og antimuslimsk retorik. Billeder: Hadefuld eller harmløs billedtale? Mikael Rothstein: Et par høviske ord om religion. Ole Reitov: Hadets sange. Jens Lohmann: Hvornår er litteratur hadefuld- og hvem bestemmer det? Rikke Frank Jørgensen: Hadetale og ytringsfrihed i en internettid. Niels Bjerre Poulsen: Det amerikanske paradoks. Birte Weiss: Hadetalens smitteveje. Malene Fenger Grøndahl: Europas ‘sorte jøder’ er stadig lagt for had. Lynda Gilfillan: Ytringsfrihed og hadetale i Sydafrika. Göran Rosenberg: Ytringsfrihedens betingelser og begrænsninger. PENs Charter.

https://bibliotek.dk/linkme.php?rec.id=870970-basis%3A50616916

Millar, Sharon, Rasmus Nielsen, Anna Vibeke Lindø, and Klaus Geyer. ‘The Use of Hyperlinking as Evidential Practice in Danish Online Hate Speech’. (2020)

Millar, Sharon, Rasmus Nielsen, Anna Vibeke Lindø, and Klaus Geyer. ‘The Use of Hyperlinking as Evidential Practice in Danish Online Hate Speech’. Pragmatics and Society, vol. 11, no. 2, John Benjamins, July 2020, pp. 241–261.

Using data from readers’ comments to news articles from a national Danish newspaper, the article addresses the nature and function of hyperlinks as evidential practice in relation to xenophobic hate speech. Hyperlinks refer to the use of URL addresses to link to websites; hate speech is understood broadly as stigmatising discourse. Adopting a discursive approach to evidentiality that accounts for a range of phenomena including source of knowledge, participant roles, epistemic stance and interactional force, hate speech related hyperlinks and their evidential functions were identified. While not prevalent in number, hyperlinks serve to legitimise negative stances towards minority groups but also support counter speech targeting prejudicial views. Links can be used as part of processes of metaphorical shift and sarcasm as well as to provoke hate speech in comment threads. As URL addresses are frequently textual, they can have evidential functions independent of the material that they link to.

doi:10.1075/ps.18070.mil.

https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/ps.18070.mil.

Zuleta, Lumi, and Rasmus Burkal. Hadefulde ytringer i den offentlige online debat. (2017) [PDF]

Zuleta, Lumi, and Rasmus Burkal. Hadefulde ytringer i den offentlige online debat. København: Institut for Menneskerettigheder, 2017, p. 120,

Denne rapport beskriver resultaterne fra en undersøgelse om hadefulde ytringer udarbejdet i 2016. Formålet med undersøgelsen er at få indsigt i, hvor ofte hadefulde ytringer optræder i forbindelse med nyhedsformidling og debat. Rapporten gennemgår data bestående af knap 3.000 kommentarer fra henholdsvis DR Nyheders og TV 2 Nyhedernes Facebook-sider. På baggrund af disse kommentarer udledes tendenser og mønstre i et forsøg på at kortlægge omfanget og karakteren af hadefulde ytringer i en bestemt periode. Disse tendenser sammenholde vi med resultaterne fra en Megafon-måling blandt danske Facebook-brugere, hvor der er blevet spurgt ind til oplevelse af debatten og debattonen, og hvorvidt disse oplevelser har betydning for, om man deltager i den offentlige debat online. Desuden gennemgår viden eksisterende lovgivning på området samt de overordnede juridiske rammer, som sættes af international menneskeretsamt dansk ret. Helt overordnet ser vi i denne undersøgelse nærmere på følgende: Omfanget af de hadefulde ytringer på DR Nyheders og TV2 Nyhedernes Facebook-sider Hvilke emner der giver anledning til hadefulde ytringer Hvem der ytrer sig hadefuldt  Hvem eller hvad de hadefulde ytringer rettes mod Karakteren af de hadefulde ytringer  Konsekvenser af en hård tone i den offentlige debat på Facebook.

PDF: https://menneskeret.dk/sites/menneskeret.dk/files/media/dokumenter/udgivelser/ligebehandling_2017/rapport_hadefulde_ytringer_online_2017.pdf.

Fuglsang Larsen, Jeppe, Birte Siim, and Susi Meret. ‘Militants from the Other Side. Anti-Bodies to Hate-Speech and Behavior in Denmark.’ (2014) [PDF]

Fuglsang Larsen, Jeppe, Birte Siim, and Susi Meret. State of the Art. Work Stream 3 – the Danish Report: Militants from the Other Side. Anti-Bodies to Hate-Speech and Behavior in Denmark. 461002, Aalborg University, 2014, p. 38.

The purpose of the State Of the Art (SOA) is to gain knowledge about the Danish Context of organisations, groups and movements in civil society countering hate speech, institutional racism and exclusionary practices and to identify gaps in national research on the issue that can be explored through field work, interviews and group discussions/dialogues, possibly to be debated at roundtable convening in the autumn of 2014.

PDF: https://vbn.aau.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/209278105/RAGE_SOA_WS_3_Final.pdf.

Boréus, Kristina. ‘Nationalism and Discursive Discrimination against Immigrants in Austria, Denmark and Sweden’. (2013)

Boréus, Kristina. ‘Nationalism and Discursive Discrimination against Immigrants in Austria, Denmark and Sweden’. Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Politics and Discourse, Eds. Ruth Wodak et al., Bloomsbury Academic, 2013, 293–307.

Uddrag: https://books.google.dk/books?id=Wrw8gC8vCnUC&lpg=PA293&ots=QjlIpzEDgV&dq=denmark%20discrimination&lr&pg=PA295#v=onepage&q=denmark%20discrimination&f=false.

Bleich, Erik. ‘Free Speech or Hate Speech? The Danish Cartoon Controversy in the European Legal Context’. (2012) [PDF]

Bleich, Erik. ‘Free Speech or Hate Speech? The Danish Cartoon Controversy in the European Legal Context’. Global Migration, Ed. Kavita R. Khory, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2012, 113–128.

By now, most people know the story of the Danish Cartoon Controversy. A Danish author claimed he had trouble finding an artist to draw the prophet Muhammad for a children’s book he was writing. The editors of the conservative Jyllands-Posten newspaper believed that Muslims had succeeded in cowing illustrators and imposing a taboo that had no rightful place in a liberal democracy. So they asked the newspaper illustrators’ union for images in order to uphold the value of free speech. On September 30, 2005, they published 12 illustrations under the heading “The Face of Muhammad.” The reactions over the ensuing months ranged from protests and lawsuits within Denmark and Europe to boycotts, burned flags, and ransacked embassies abroad. The political manipulation of these depictions also generated violent unrest that led to over 200 deaths across the Muslim world (Hansen and Hundevadt 2008; Klausen 2009).

doi:10.1057/9781137007124_6.

PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Erik_Bleich/publication/304788259_Free_Speech_or_Hate_Speech_The_Danish_Cartoon_Controversy_in_the_European_Legal_Context/links/5876aeec08ae329d62260ddb/Free-Speech-or-Hate-Speech-The-Danish-Cartoon-Controversy-in-the-European-Legal-Context.pdf.