Hate Speech

Hate speech refers to expression that attacks, demeans, or calls for violence or discrimination against individuals or groups based on protected characteristics such as race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability status. On digital platforms, hate speech is addressed through community guidelines that prohibit dehumanizing content targeting such groups. Disability-related hate speech — including content that mocks, dehumanizes, or calls for the exclusion of people with disabilities — is a documented harm on social media. Content moderation research finds that automated and human review systems struggle to accurately identify hate speech, particularly when it is subtle or context-dependent, and that these failures disproportionately affect targeted communities when legitimate disability advocacy content is incorrectly flagged and removed alongside genuinely harmful posts.