International responses on hate speech were among the discussions held during the national seminar on combating hate speech 2023 in Spain.

The Council of Europe Recommendation on combating hate speech, and the organisations work, in particular to strengthen non-legal measures such as education, use of counter speech and multi-stakeholder cooperation to prevent and combat hate speech were introduced. A lively discussion ensued regarding the follow-up being given to the Recommendation, Council of Europe’s engagement with civil society, and ECRI’s work on the topic.

The seminar concluded with an award ceremony for the participants completing the online trusted flaggers training. This training course is part of the Spanish protocol to combat illegal hate speech online agreed between the state authorities, civil society organisations and social media platforms operating in Spain.

The seminar was attended by eighty representatives of Spanish civil society, national and regional law enforcement agencies, and various national regulators responsible for media, data protection and online services. It was organised by the Spanish Observatory on Racism and Xenophobia (OBERAXE) with support of the European Commission.