Description: The Policy Questions will stand as the main pillars of the debate. They are divided into two groups.
Stage 1 Questions are brief and direct, meant to set the stage for the debate. Each Speaker will be given one question, tailored to their expertise and experience. After a 4 minute speech from each of them we'll have our first opportunity for interventions, when the audience will be able to complement the basic discussion so far, offering their own answers to the policy questions, or challenge what has been stated.
Afterwards we'll have the Stage 2 Questions, which are more complex and offer a greater space for debate. They all have a strong component of practicality and try to raise debate about what each stakeholder group can do to improve the situation. Once again each Speaker will be given a question, tailored to their expertise.
Afterwards we'll have the main moment of the workshop, 20 minutes of open debate in which the audience will be able to offer their own insight into the questions. We consider that it'll be through this open debate, built upon the Speakers' initial points, that we'll be able to achieve the outcomes described below.
We have set aside 10 minutes for the Speakers to respond to the Open Debate, and further 5 minutes for concluding Remarks. This structure is satisfactory but, notably, flexible; should the debate be too fruitful and intense we can cut down on Concluding Remarks, and so can we merge the Speaker Responses into the Open Debate itself.
We leave 5 minutes aside as a safeguard against delays and, should none occur, extra time for discussion.
Introduction (4 minutes)
Stage 1 Questions (4 minutes for each question, total of 16 minutes.)
First Audience Q&A (10 minutes)
Stage 2 Questions (5 minutes each, total of 20 minutes.)
Open Debate Part 1 (20 minutes)
Speaker Respond to Open Debate (10 minutes)
Concluding Remarks (5 minutes)
Time for Delays: 5 minutes
Total Time: 85 minutes + 5 for Delays.
Expected Outcomes: This workshop aims to bring together people from all different regions, stakeholder, and organizations to have a face-to-face discussion about the impact of videogames communities and anonymous forums have for dissemination of harmful speech among youth.
The session will address three main issues that are central for the discussion (i) the impact of anonymous communities for youth social insertion on the Internet, (ii) the impact of these communities for dissemination of hate speech online and offline and (iii) how regulation and Internet policies can address this issue.
While it is difficult to measure the exact impact of these communities for the socialization of young people on the Internet, the current scenario indicates that many of the participants are young and many of the young people involved with hate crimes are also part of these communities. This session, therefore, has as a goal to increase the debate around the topic, pointing out some of the questions that still need to be analyzed.
Speakers and participants will address the following trigger questions:
How is the Internet changing the nature of relations between youth and how their socialization through videogames and anonymous communities occur? How are these communities strcutured? How does their structure facilitate the dissemination of hate speech? What is the actual impact of it on offline and online hate attacks? How should Internet policies address it, given that anonomity is an essential tool for privacy and freedom of expression?
By addressing those issues we hold the following points as our expected outcomes:
a. Assessing the pros and cons associated with anonymous discussion forums and platforms;
b. Achieving a consensus about the issues that require addressing from the stakeholder groups, in particular regarding harmful speech and radicalization;
c. Assessing how youth contributes and is affected by those discussion forums;
d. Assessing possible responses and plans of action for how stakeholders can minimize negative impacts, and
e. Establishing how regulation can play a part in this debate, and how it may relate to platform regulation in general.