The consequences of cyberbullying are turning deadly, making the problem all the more worrisome. Modern cyberbullying has gone beyond the schoolyard taunts of previous generations. It has begun to claim lives. 

Conclusive research has shown that people who have experienced cyberbullying are twice as likely to attempt suicide. This staggering fact needs to force us to reexamine the way we deal with cyberbullying. 

Cyberbullying Victims Are Paying The Ultimate Price

Bullying has unfortunately evolved into the digital age. With people’s entire social lives taking place online, the effects of cyberbullying can be devastating. 

Just last month, for example, reality star and wrestler Hana Kimura took her own life after being repeatedly victimized in cyberbullying attacks. She was only 22 years old. 

In one of her final heartbreaking social media posts, Kimura brought up her cyberbullying. “Nearly 100 opinions every day. I couldn’t deny that I was hurt… I don’t want to be alive anymore. Bye.”

It doesn’t have to be celebrities, either. Another heartbreaking case is the story of David Molak, a sophomore, Eagle Scout, and fitness enthusiast from San Antonio. Molak was spending an evening with his brother when a group of unknown numbers added him into a group chat and began verbally abusing him about his appearance. 

His brother, Cliff Molak, vividly recalls that night. “My first response to him was ‘These kids suck, that’s really the best insult they can come up with?’ but I didn’t get the response I wanted. I thought he would laugh but he just stared off into the distance and you could see his pain. He just felt that people hated him.”

David was found dead by suicide in the backyard the next day. 

It Doesn’t Matter Who You Are

Cyberbullying affects people of all ages and backgrounds. When addressing cyberbullying, many people imagine school kids or lonely teens – and while these are certainly populations at risk, it’s critical to remember that cyberbullying can affect anyone. 

Especially at risk are athletes, actors, musicians, celebrities, and social media personalities who are all subjected to the whims of their followers and can be easily victimized as a result. It can be especially hard for people in the spotlight since their everyday lives are under constant scrutiny, and they are often faced by an anonymous barrage of damaging bullying.

The Role Of Online Platforms

As we saw, social media plays a big role in cyberbullying. People are able to reach anyone they want and this gives predators nearly unrestricted access to their victims. 

But there’s another role that social media might be able to play. Just like the case of Hana Kimura, many people take to social media to post a suicide note or to say goodbye to their loved ones. With the proper protection algorithms in place, social media platforms might be able to alert authorities about someone on the brink of drastic forms of self-harm. 

The L1ght At The End Of The Tunnel

We must use the tragedies caused by cyberbullying as a wakeup call. We can’t let it all have been for nothing. 

This is what L1ght is passionate about. Ensuring a safe online environment for everyone so that future generations get to experience the wonders of online interconnectedness without the dangers of toxicity. 

Whether it’s social media platforms, messaging and games, hosting platforms, or ISPs, L1ght’s technology can put a stop to online toxicity for good.Interested? Reach out to hear more.

The post Cyberbullying Is Claiming Lives And It Needs To End appeared first on L1ght | Detect & Remove Online Toxicity.

Today, much of the hate speech takes place on the internet including on social media platforms, chat apps, comments sections of websites, and on gaming platforms. Hate speech too often culminates in physical violence so tackling the scourge of hate on-line is often ripping it out at its roots.  And that’s exactly what we do.

L1ght’s learning algorithms analyze and recognize all forms of hate speech, whether through text, video, or sound. We don’t just say we’re against hate speech and its consequences –  we “walk the walk”.

L1ght’s technology is built to combat online hate speech. Our mission is to protect diversity, prevent bullying, and ensure the internet is a tolerant ecosystem for people of every gender, color, religion, and opinion.

As Askhari Johnson Hodari writes, “If everyone helps to hold up the sky, then one person does not become tired.”  L1ght is proud of its partners and allies in the fight against online toxicity. From governments and NGOs to social media channels, gaming platforms, hosting providers, and parents, this is a battle that can only be won when we work together.

At L1ght, we have so much to be proud of. There is still a long road that must be traveled, but there’s no doubt that we’re heading in the right direction – and we look forward to celebrating many more proud moments and pride months together in the years ahead.

Happy Pride.

The post Pride Month: Ensuring a Future of Hope and Togetherness appeared first on L1ght | Detect & Remove Online Toxicity.

eSports began gaining much more attention since physical sporting events were postponed or canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To a large degree, eSports replaced physical sports for many people and became a way for them to interact and support a competitive team. 

But this billion-dollar industry has had its share of controversies. We’ll go through some of the challenges facing eSports, specifically in terms of the toxicity that’s been found on its platforms. 

Toxic Behavior In The eSports Ecosystem

Cyberbullying and hate speech have long been a problem in the gaming community, with numerous cases of hate speech and discrimination against players on the in-game voice and text chat platforms. 

This problem extends into eSports in general. 

For example, a highly-ranked Overwatch player named Francine “Fran” Vo has been harassed by countless sexist comments from the Overwatch fan community. These gender-based comments accuse her of being “carried” by her teammates and advocate for her to be “benched”. 

The problem of bullying and sexism in gaming even culminated in an enormous scandal known as Gamergate, in which female gamers were being personally threatened with graphic violence. The issue became so pervasive that an all-women gaming league, WPGI, was established. 

And it’s not only sexism, either. Racism has been a serious problem in eSports arenas as well. 

One of the more popular gaming arenas called Smite, recently suspended over 500 accounts after completing a full chat-log review and finding extremely racist rhetoric.

How Is Toxicity In Gaming Being Addressed?

The gaming community is no stranger to racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of online toxicity. So what steps are being taken to prevent such online toxicity?

Recent admirable alliances aimed at stamping out toxicity in gaming have shown that through the right combination of technology and partnerships, it is within our grasp to make toxicity in eSports and gaming in general a thing of the past.

This does not mean an end to competition and competitiveness – quite the opposite. It does mean however that hate and abuse should have no place on gaming platforms.

As we saw, an entirely new league had to be set up just for women to be able to play and feel safe in their gaming environment. While obviously an amazing initiative, this just shows that this issue is incredibly urgent.

Bringing L1ght To eSports

Currently, our day-to-day headlines are filled with too many instances of racism, hate, and intolerance. eSports are an incredible opportunity to change the narrative and highlight diversity, cooperation, and a spirit of togetherness. 

L1ght, together with our partners, can make this vision a reality. Harnessing the power of deep learning and AI, L1ght can be embedded in any number of gaming platforms to ensure the environment stays fun, competitive, and safe for all. Offering cutting-edge real-time safeguards against online toxicity such as sexism, racism, homophobia, and hate, L1ght is the natural partner of eSports and gaming platforms to keep the gaming community protected.

To hear more about how L1ght is fighting online toxicity, get in touch. 

The post Online Toxicity & eSports: The Dark Side of a Billion Dollar Industry appeared first on L1ght | Detect & Remove Online Toxicity.

Tech regulation rarely stays confined to a certain jurisdiction. Much like the European privacy laws (GDPR) migrated to the US (in the form of COPPA and CCPA for example), President Trump’s recent executive order correlates with other European legislation set to place more responsibility upon tech companies – including social networks, gaming platforms, and web hosting services – for the content found on their platforms. Platforms may be forced to significantly ramp up efforts to prevent toxicity such as hate speech, child sexual abusive materials (CSAM), self-harm, and predatory behavior on their sites.

In this post, we’ll take a look at how companies will need to respond to these changes, how they will need to deal with online toxicity, and the steps they can take to ensure security.

With Great Power Comes Responsibility

Just as car manufacturers ship vehicles with seat belts to protect drivers and passengers, so too – according to many online safety advocates – should platforms hosting content provide some form of protection and safety mechanisms for their users.

As L1ght CEO Zohar Levkovitz puts it, “Now that social networks are so powerful, with that power comes responsibility. Social networks are the only product we are consuming where no one is liable for our safety.”

While freedom of speech is critical, the end result should guarantee this freedom while preserving protections, especially for younger users. The executive order has stirred this debate even further. However, both sides of the debate would agree with Levkovitz when he notes “Let’s use this to start a conversation about how we can solve this problem in the industry.”

Content Responsibility: Global Highlights

USA

As noted above, the recent executive order seeks to hold online platforms to a higher degree of responsibility for content that they host. The way it does this is by limiting the protections these platforms enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

The Communications Decency Act was passed in 1996. Section 230 was originally added to the legislation as a way to protect news outlets from the speech found in comments sections, online forums, and other websites where people could contribute their thoughts.

With Section 230 under attack, platforms hosting content can expect to have a bigger job facing them. They will need to actively monitor and moderate content because the blame for toxicity can now be laid on their doorstep.

France

In France, a stronger piece of legislation was recently passed. The National Assembly passed a law that gives platforms a one-hour deadline to remove illegal content after being instructed to do so by the authorities.

Toxic content – for example, hate speech, racist comments, or religious bigotry – is required to be removed within 24 hours of it being reported by users. If companies don’t comply, they can face fines of up to 4% of their global revenue.

Germany

Germany has approved a bill that requires online platforms to be more proactive and report online toxicity to the authorities. This is in addition to the requirement already in place that social media companies delete harmful content within 24 hours.

The law extends to multiple forms of toxicity, including extremist propaganda, graphic portrayals of violence, threats, or distribution of child sexual abuse images.

Platforms that do not comply with the bill could face fines of up to €50 million.

UK

The British government intends to give regulators the power to fine social media companies for harmful material on their platforms. This will be done through the U.K.’s telecommunications watchdog, Ofcom.

Julian Knight, the head of the British Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee – which covers the regulation of all media companies – referred to “a muscular approach” regarding regulation in this area.

L1ght: Safety-as-a-Service

As we’ve seen, global change is imminent. Governments worldwide are shifting the responsibility for online toxicity from the individuals that post it, to the platforms that host it.

At L1ght, we have built technology that can identify and prevent online toxicity, and our tech is currently being used by law enforcement agencies, multi-billion dollar publicly traded companies, and private entities. L1ght believes it’s a crucial partner and natural ally of online platforms in the fight to keep platforms toxicity-free while preserving freedom of speech and complying with emerging legislation.

Contact L1ght to find out more about how L1ght’s technology can be integrated into any platform to stop online toxicity.

The post Worldwide Legislation: Online Toxicity Has A Price appeared first on L1ght | Detect & Remove Online Toxicity.

Targeting and eradicating toxicity is a crucial element to ensuring that gaming remains fun and safe for everyone involved. Tackling this has brought many stakeholders together to create an alliance that’s dedicated to the good of gaming and that fights harassment, discrimination, and abuse.

The State of Gaming Toxicity

Toxicity can occur in almost any game. This harassment can even show up in typically “friendly” games like Super Smash Bros. 

In a study on the subject, three of four people surveyed experienced some form of harassment while gaming on popular platforms, with a majority describing that harassment as “severe.” Many cases included physical threats, stalking, and harassment, with some players being exposed to white supremacy as well as falsehoods surrounding 9/11 and the Holocaust.

Gaming Safety And The Fair Play Alliance

The Fair Play Alliance was formed in 2018 as a response to the increasing toxicity in online gaming. They are an expanding coalition of professional gamers and game publishers – over 160 companies have joined – who are committed to stamping out gaming toxicity and making sure that gameplay stays fun and safe for all participants. Their stated mission is to “identify, define, and enable awesome player interactions, fair play, and healthy communities in online games by design.”

Among the member companies of The Alliance are some of the biggest names in gaming including EA Sports, Ubisoft, and many others. The Alliance frequently hosts summits and seminars which are focused on making gaming a toxicity-free environment. 

Some examples of resources offered by the Alliance include “Basic Tools for Healthy Communities”, hosted by Laura Warner (Niantic), Kenny Shores (Riot), and Jess Hollmeier (Supercell) and the Fair Play Alliance Keynote, presented by Dave McCarthy (Xbox) and Jarrod Doherty (Blizzard) – where leaders in the field discuss why publishers, game developers, and gaming platforms should consider applying best practices of player behavior and content moderation/online safety approaches.

L1ght Is A Crucial Part Of Ending Gaming Toxicity

L1ght has joined the Fair Play Alliance, which is showing that through collaboration and partnerships, this fight against toxicity in gaming can be won. 

By combining advanced tech solutions such as those L1ght provides, together with gaming platforms, NGOs and other stakeholders, we’re seeing a future of gaming where – in the words of the Alliance – “games are free of harassment, discrimination, and abuse, and where players can express themselves through play.” 

L1ght’s contextual AI tool can analyze any signal including text, photo, video, URLs, GIFs and safeguard against bullying, predators, and online toxicity found in gaming platforms. We believe we are a key ally of gaming platforms in ensuring that gameplay remains safe and fun for everyone – and that toxicity and its often tragic consequences have no place in gameplay of the future. 

To hear more about how L1ght and The Fair Play Alliance are changing the face of online gaming, get in touch. 

The post Ending Gaming Toxicity: The Alliance of Good appeared first on L1ght | Detect & Remove Online Toxicity.

Some platforms are taking admirable steps in attacking this problem head-on. For others, users and regulators are getting increasingly frustrated with some of these providers who alternate between often ineffectual attempts to address the issue – and trying to absolve themselves completely from responsibility for content hosted on their platforms.

Web hosting providers, while different to many of these platforms, face many of the same issues. The good news is that they have the opportunity to deal with online toxicity on a higher level, and have an outsize impact on a safer internet for all. 

If toxic content was to be eliminated on the web hosting level, that effect would cascade down to millions of users worldwide. 

We’ll look at some of the challenges facing web hosting companies, specifically in terms of toxic content that breaches their policies, and see how these challenges can be solved. 

Challenges Facing ISPs

Online abuse and toxicity have been gaining recognition as a global problem in recent years. This can include hate speech, child sexual abusive materials, self harm and a host of other acts. Key questions are: who is responsible for keeping the internet free of online toxicity? And – who will pay the price when toxic content is revealed on the platform?

For many, that responsibility falls to web hosting providers. Web hosting companies have been in the news recently in this regard, and face key challenges when it comes to responsibility for the content they host, not to mention the challenge of the PR crisis that may follow. 

Regulatory and legislative issues

Web hosting companies have a number of upcoming challenges in this arena. Some of them include:

Laws proposed in the U.S. that seek to punish hosting providers over content hosted on their platform, including in some cases holding executives personally liable. 

Platform to business or “P2B” regulation. This will apply throughout the EU (and will include the UK), from 12 July 2020. The impact of this legislation, and exactly how it will be applied is still being debated. But for web hosting providers, it’s further incentive to ensure that best efforts are being expended to ensure their platforms provide fairness and transparency and are free of online toxicity.

Financial liability

In an enforcement advisory issued by the Canadian government, there is wording that is alarming for web hosting providers. The document itself deals with the issue of spam but reads: “While web hosting providers may not be directly responsible for violations committed by their clients…they are nevertheless uniquely positioned to detect, prevent and stop these non-compliant activities” (emphasis added). When it comes to online toxicity, web hosting providers need to be careful around how they deal with content on their platforms.

Already Facebook and Youtube have been successfully sued for millions of dollars (billions in Facebook’s case) for content hosted on their platforms. Could the same rules be used to go after web hosting companies?

In another case, a company that was the victim of a ransomware attack has sued not only the attackers but also the company responsible for hosting the hackers’ website. This could set a precedent in terms of hosting companies being responsible for the content they host. 

Reputational damage

Already the hosting of websites that include child abuse and sexual content has been in the news and tragically there has been an increase in such content due to various factors, some of which are linked to the Covid-19 crisis – for example, fewer analysts to have websites taken down. 

For obvious reasons, web hosting providers will want to ensure that none of these horrific websites or content are hosted by them.  

In a related story, Cloudflare – which provides content-delivery-network services – has been accused of protecting sites that host images of child abuse – this after other bruising stories detailing Cloudflare’s connection with 8chan and neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer. 

Web Hosting Companies Understand The Need For Safety

At L1ght, we’ve seen first-hand the difference that partnering with a web hosting provider can make. By integrating L1ght’s technology, web hosting providers can show they are actively preventing harmful and toxic content from being hosted by them. A recent case illustrates this.

In this particular case, a major web hosting provider in the United States partnered with L1ght to ensure that online toxicity was eradicated from websites they host. 

This provider realized that the problem was too pervasive for human moderators to deal with. The sheer number of sites hosted by the provider is so enormous, that their team needed help getting insights on the content hosted – and to ensure their policies are enforced.

By partnering with L1ght, this web hosting company was able to implement a comprehensive solution to address online toxicity on websites it hosts. L1ght’s proactive AI tool, FlashL1ght, took the parameters and URLs set by the provider and used them to crunch massive amounts of data and detect online toxicity in all its forms. 

Web Hosting Companies Have A Natural Partner For Online Safety

The ability of web hosting providers to fight online toxicity is unparalleled. Government legislation is important, but it won’t entirely solve the problem. Web hosting providers are uniquely positioned to play a pivotal role in ensuring a safer internet for all. Not to mention saving time and money on potential PR scandals, and in a positive way showing that they are taking their role in this issue seriously. 

Since human moderators can’t keep up with the massive amounts of sites hosted by the provider, technological solutions must be brought in. 

That’s why L1ght is the natural next step for web hosting companies. L1ght, together with partners such as hosting providers, can implement their non-invasive sophisticated and proactive AI tools to protect the providers’ ecosystem.

The post Could Web Hosting Companies Be Liable For Online Toxicity? appeared first on L1ght | Detect & Remove Online Toxicity.

With the popularity of social media amongst kids and the increasing use of EdTech, children are on the internet in greater numbers and for longer amounts of time than ever before. This makes online safety an increasingly urgent issue.  

In this post, we’ll examine the various stakeholders in ensuring the safety of the internet and see how these allies form a united front to lead the global fight against online toxicity. 

Major Players In The Online Safety Tech Ecosystem

NGOs

Several organizations lead the non-governmental response to online safety. Some of the key players include:

NSPCC

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, or NSPCC, is a UK non-profit organization that raises awareness and promotes legislative reform to protect children. One of their more successful social media campaigns was the #WildWestWeb movement which garnered over 45,000 supporters and urged the government to introduce new laws to protect children from sexual abuse online.

IWF

The Internet Watch Foundation, or IWF, is another organization that serves a critical role in the fight against online toxicity. Their many services include:

• Image Hash List – a list of unique digital fingerprints of child sexual abuse images that are used to identify online images so they can be quickly removed
• Takedown Notices – alerts about images and videos containing abusive material
• URL List – a list of webpages that contain child sexual abuse material, so that access to them can be blocked

These are just some of the incredible organizations leading the fight in the Safety Tech Ecosystem that are helping to combat online toxicity. 

Governments 

With help and pressure from NGOs, governments around the world are passing legislation to make it harder for abuse to occur online. 

U.S.

In the United States Senate, a bipartisan bill was introduced called The Eliminating Abuse and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act or EARN IT for short. Essentially, this legislation threatens technology companies like Facebook and Google with losing some of the protections they enjoy under a law called Section 230, which prevents online platforms from being treated as the publisher of content from their users. This legislation is an example of the role governments have to play in fighting online toxicity and abuse.

UK

In the UK, as part of the Online Harms White Paper, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport – also known as the DCMS – pushed for independent regulators to be introduced to ensure companies meet their responsibilities regarding preventing online toxicity and harm.

This includes “duty of care”, which requires companies to take reasonable steps to keep their users safe and tackle illegal and harmful activity on their services. The regulator will have effective enforcement tools, and powers to issue substantial fines, block access to sites, and potentially to hold senior members of management liable.

These are just a few examples of government regulations trying to tackle online toxicity from around the world. As the issue becomes more acute, it is generating more attention from the relevant authorities.

Parents 

Last but not least, online safety starts at home. By encouraging awareness and education, parents have a pivotal role in making sure that kids stay safe on the web. But this is easier said than done. Even if both parents work from home, it’s virtually impossible to supervise web usage all the time. Thanks to the scale, anonymity, and real-time nature of the internet, parents need to be supported by technology in order to keep kids safe. 

We Work Better Together

The fight against online toxicity needs to be addressed on many levels, with each organization type playing their part. 

Governments, NGOs, and technology solutions are allies in this fight to keep children safe online. 

At L1ght, we take our role in this fight seriously. By bringing advanced technology to bear, L1ght is an integral part of any child protection strategy and has already successfully worked with governments, NGOs, tech platforms and providers around the world to make the internet safer for kids.

To learn more about L1ght, and the fight for a safer internet, get in touch. 

The post Protecting Kids Online – Whose Responsibility Is It? appeared first on L1ght | Detect & Remove Online Toxicity.

Zoom and platforms like it are of enormous benefit to organizations that need to communicate virtually, but they come with their own set of challenges and flaws – including, in some cases, enabling online toxicity to reach a much wider audience than ever before. We’ll take a look at some examples of those challenges and see what can be done to mitigate their impact. 

Zoom-Bombing

Millions of users have flocked to platforms like Zoom due to social distancing and the Work From Home (WFH) environment. Zoom’s stock spiked by over 100% since January due its rapid explosion of user growth. The Zoom CEO announced that the platform went from roughly 10 million daily participants, to over 200 million since January. But not all those users have the best intentions.

A new type of online trolling, called “Zoom-bombing” has surfaced. Zoom-bombing typically involves an outside party infiltrating a zoom call with the intent to disrupt or harass participants, or in the worst cases, share explicit content. 

Chris Hadnagy, of the Innocent Lives Foundation, shared some mild examples of Zoom-bombing. These included incidents such as students taking over a classroom session and kicked the teacher out, or kids posting inappropriate messages and links in the chat feature of the conference call. 

But Zoom-bombing is most worrying when it comes from users who are not supposed to be on the call in the first place. A recent case of Zoom-bombing highlighted the dangers it can pose to young children.

A conference call hosted by Grovecrest Elementary in Utah ended with a hacker hijacking an unsecured Zoom session. The school’s principal began a session with nearly 50 students on Zoom. A few minutes after the call began, an unidentified user entered the meeting and proceeded to expose the students to explicit material.

“He [the principal] heard someone behind the scenes use profanity, and then some pornography was put on the screen,” said Kimberly Bird, spokesperson with the Alpine School District. “He said, ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,’ and shut the meeting down.” The graphic images were only on the screen for a total of three seconds, but it was “three seconds too much,” Bird said.

A similar story occurred in Long Island, but this one contained hate-speech and bullying as well. 

These examples are far from isolated incidents. Comparable Zoom-bombings have been reported with worrying frequency since social distancing became global policy.

Staying Safe While Staying Home

Keeping your Zoom calls secure, especially when children are participating, is an absolute necessity. Here are some tips to help your Zoom call stay safe:

• Don’t use your personal meeting ID for meetings that you are hosting. Instead, use an ID that is exclusive to each meeting.
• Enable the “waiting room” feature so that you, as the host, can see who is attempting to join each meeting before granting them access.
• Disable the ability for others to join before you, or whoever the host may be. Also disable screen-sharing for non-hosts to prevent people from sharing whatever they want. 
• Once the meeting begins and everyone is in attendance, lock the meeting to outsiders and assign at least two meeting co-hosts.

L1ght & The Fight Against Online Toxicity

Zoom-bombing and other kinds of teleconferencing trolling are just the latest mutation in a plague of online toxicity that has been steadily growing. 

Recently, L1ght conducted a thorough deep-dive into recent examples of online hate speech and cyberbullying. The results were staggering. L1ght found substantial increases in hate-speech, abusive hashtags, and traffic to known hate-sites since the coronavirus outbreak began. 

People are spending more time than ever on online platforms and this puts everyone, especially children, in harm’s way. 

About L1ght

L1ght is an AI-based company that detects toxic online content to protect children. L1ght uses sophisticated algorithms to serve as solutions for social networks, search engines, gaming platforms, and hosting providers to identify and eradicate online toxicity such as cyberbullying, harmful content, hate speech, and predatory behavior. 

To learn more about L1ght, reach out. 

The post The Impact Of Video Meetings On Online Toxicity appeared first on L1ght | Detect & Remove Online Toxicity.

The recent rise in cyberbullying and general online toxicity has been well documented. However, concerned parents can still use their physical presence to keep an eye on the content their children are exposed to. At some point, the coronavirus crisis will come to an end. That day will be undoubtedly celebrated, but it means the increase in online toxicity will no longer be checked by parental supervision. 

In this post, we’ll take a look at the danger of the toxicity spreading on platforms frequented by children, specifically on gaming platforms. 

It’s Not All Fun & Games

Online gaming can provide much needed interaction, especially during this period of social isolation. But there are also challenges that come with it, like cyberbullying and online predators. Especially for children, online gaming platforms require constant attention. 

The appeal of online gaming is easy to understand. It offers an escape from reality into a simulated world where none of the struggles and frustrations of real life bear any weight. Anonymity in gaming can be both a blessing and a curse. It can allow people to say whatever is on their minds, but it also emboldens people to say and do hurtful things that they might not do if their real identities were on display.  

Take the story of Bailey Mitchell, a sixteen-year-old gamer, who reported that he had experienced bullying while playing online games since the age of 10 – some of which even took the form of explicit death threats.  

“If you’re going to school every day and you’re being bullied in school you want to go home to your computer to escape,” he said. “It’s regular, every other game you’re in, there’s always someone who has a mic or types in chat. They’ll call you every random abusive thing they can think of.” 

But being bullied is only one of the risks involved in gaming. Online predators also use the anonymity and the built-in messaging service of many gaming platforms to attempt to build relationships and groom potential victims. This can involve inappropriate messages, webcam chats or even physical meetings. 

Generating Discord

When games have limited messaging capabilities, or regulate content in their in-game chat, many gamers turn to Discord instead. Discord is a free voice, video and text chat app created specifically for gamers. It is immensely popular, having amassed over 25 million users since its launch. It can be accessed via computer, tablet, or mobile phone and allows users to invite others into chat groups to discuss gameplay in real-time by voice, text or video. 

Despite having good intentions, Discord has become known as a potentially hostile environment for many gamers. One of the issues with Discord is its lack of content regulation. 

For example, The Irish Times reported a story in which a mother found disturbing images on the Discord account of her 13 year old son. He had been using Discord to play Minecraft and Fortnite, games which are generally age-appropriate for young teens. 

Preparing For Tomorrow

As we mentioned, the coronavirus outbreak has offered parents an opportunity for heightened supervision over their kids’ online activities. We demonstrated how the dangers that lurk behind many gaming platforms will remain after coronavirus ends, but this time without the protective blanket of parental oversight. This problem demands a solution. 

L1ght is that solution.

L1ght offers cutting-edge real-time safeguards against bullying, predators and online toxicity found in gaming platforms online. Harnessing the power of deep learning and AI, L1ght can be embedded in any number of social platforms, gaming services, or ISPs to provide safe and fun gaming – and online activities in general – for all. 

To hear more about how L1ght is fighting online toxicity, get in touch. 

The post Preparing For The End Of Coronavirus: Toxicity In Gaming appeared first on L1ght | Detect & Remove Online Toxicity.

Already this study has generated a tremendous buzz and has been reported on by the likes of The Next Web, The Daily Mail, Vice and multiple other media outlets (see below for the growing list).

L1ght conducted a deep-dive into millions of websites, teen chat rooms, and gaming platforms and revealed an alarming rise in online toxicity and cyberbullying. According to the collected data, much of this hate and abuse is being directed at Chinese people specifically but extends to individuals of Asian origin in other parts of the world as well. 

The full report can be found here. 

Key Findings

In the report, L1ght noted sharp increases in hate speech, cyberbullying, and general online toxicity. Some fascinating highlights from the report include:

• 900% increase in hate speech on Twitter directed towards China and the Chinese

According to the data, instigators of hate are likely using the general feeling of uncertainty and tension to stir up discriminatory behavior and racist abuse. This is being targeted most explicitly at Asians, including Asian Americans. Toxic tweets and inflammatory hashtags are using explicit language to accuse Asians of carrying and spreading the coronavirus.

• 200% increase in traffic to hate sites

Along with the general increase in internet traffic, L1ght found that traffic to known hate sites grew by 200%. Even mainstream sites have encouraged this to some degree; for example Sky News Australia published a video entitled “China ‘willfully inflicted coronavirus upon the world’” which quotes from Sky News host Rowan Dean. The video now has over 600k views and over 7k comments, the majority of them toxic and hateful.

• 70% increase in hate between kids and teens during online chats

More children are using online platforms to socialize during their quarantine and social distancing. Concurrently, there has been a notable increase in levels of bullying and abusive language among children. In fact, across communication channels on social media and popular chat forums, L1ght has identified an 70% uptick in instances of hate speech between kids and teens.

• 40% increase in toxicity on popular gaming platforms such as Discord

Discord has long been associated with toxic and abusive content. But recently, L1ght has uncovered a 40% increase in toxicity among gamers communicating using its platforms. L1ght attributes this to the amount of free time that people – especially children – have in the current climate, leading to more time being spent playing video games.

Media Coverage

The L1ght report on the rising levels of hate speech & online toxicity linked to the impact of the coronavirus has been featured in the following publications:

Channel News Asia, COVID-19: Huge surge of hate speech toward Chinese on Twitter

Cheddar, Online Toxicity During Coronavirus

CTech by Calcalist, The Challenge of Flattening the Online Hate Curve

Daily Mail, Coronavirus pandemic has led to a 900 PERCENT increase of hate speech toward China and Chinese people on Twitter, a new report reveals

This is Money: Coronavirus pandemic has led to a 900 PERCENT increase of hate speech toward China and Chinese people on Twitter, a new report reveals

Digital Trends, Cyberbullying against Asian people skyrockets 900% in wake of pandemic

Yahoo News, Cyberbullying against Asian people skyrockets 900% in wake of pandemic

South China Morning Post, Coronavirus prompts surge of hate speech toward Chinese on Twitter, report says

The Hill, As misinformation surges, coronavirus poses AI challenge

The Telegraph (mention), Coronavirus: US now leads the world for most infected with more than 100,000 cases

The Next Web, Twitter sees 900% increase in hate speech towards China — because coronavirus

Times of Israel (mention), Live Blog, March 29

Vice, Anti-Chinese Hate Speech Online Has Skyrocketed Since the Coronavirus Crisis Began

Yahoo! News (AFP), Coronavirus: Huge surge of hate speech toward Chinese on Twitter

AsiaOne, Covid-19: Huge surge of hate speech toward Chinese on Twitter

Times of Malta, Coronavirus: Huge surge of hate speech toward Chinese on Twitter

9to5mac.com (mention), Tech coronavirus roundup: From police scam warnings to Facebook returnees

Breitbart, Coronavirus: Huge surge of hate speech toward Chinese on Twitter

Digital Trends, Warning that online hatred towards China is growing

FMT, Coronavirus led to 900% surge in hate speech toward Chinese on Twitter

Gadgets Africa, Coronaracism: The Deadly Offspring of The COVID-19

InTallaght, Hate speeches on networks against China increase as coronavirus progresses

Metro, Cyberbullying against Asians skyrockets 900%, report claims

NextShark, Cyberbullying of Asians Up by 900% Amid COVID-19 Pandemic: Report

NewPaper24, Coronavirus prompts surge of hate speech towards Chinese language on Twitter, report says

New Straits Time, Covid-19: Surge of hate speech toward Chinese on Twitter

Parentology, Report: massive uptick in online hate speech due to coronavirus racism

Research Snipers, China Sees Over 900% Increase In Hate Speech On Twitter

Rio Times Online, Hate Speech Against Chinese on Twitter Grows 900 Percent

About L1ght

L1ght is an AI-based startup that detects and filters toxic online content to protect children. By building algorithms that can detect and predict toxic and abusive behaviors, L1ght serves as a solution for social networks, search engines, gaming platforms, and hosting providers to identify and eradicate cyberbullying, harmful content, hate speech, and predatory behavior. 

The advent of the coronavirus crisis must serve as a wakeup call. Widespread closures of physical establishments like businesses and schools have caused a dramatic increase in online traffic. People are spending more and more time on social networks, communication apps, chat rooms and gaming services, and the problems endemic to these platforms – hate, abuse, toxicity and bullying – have increased. L1ght’s report emphasizes once again, that the rising tide of online toxicity must be stopped for good. For more information about the report, or to find out more about L1ght, get in touch.

The post L1ght Releases Groundbreaking Report On Corona-Related Hate Speech and Online Toxicity appeared first on L1ght | Detect & Remove Online Toxicity.