Partner Coalitions

Spanish Language Disinformation Coalition

The Spanish Language Disinformation Coalition (SLDC) defends the fundamental and equitable rights of all to express themselves, access information, and engage in the open exchange of ideas online. Yet the rise of social media influence on public discourse has also brought with it a host of complicating factors that make truly equitable free expression and civic engagement difficult. Disinformation, hateful content, activities, and other forms of information and media manipulation are particularly potent mechanisms to divide society. This coalition was created to protect against those divisive and dangerous threats posed to Spanish-speaking communities. To hold social media platforms accountable, the SLDC has developed principles following the Change the Terms model to guide platforms on how to ensure they meet their own community guidelines to prevent the spreading of disinformation and hateful activities.  Balancing the human rights principles and the concerns therein, we oppose the human and/or artificial intelligence (AI) spread, amplification, and opaque monitoring processes through which disinformation and hateful activities thrive on these platforms and set out the following guiding principles as a roadmap for platforms.

1. Social media platforms must have clear community guidelines translated into all languages in which the platform operates and make it clear that a user’s service can be terminated for engaging in hateful activities.
2. Social media platforms must prioritize preventing, curbing, and removing Spanish-language disinformation and should initiate programs and/or software trained in Spanish to counter disinformation campaigns targeting the Latinx community.
3. Social media platforms must equitably enforce their content moderation policies to ensure that the appropriate amount of attention and resources are given to moderate Spanish-language content. This includes hiring human content moderators who are fully trained on the nuances of how disinformation spreads, in addition to being Latinx and fluent in regional or local Spanish dialects and cultures.
4. Social media platforms must publicly disclose how and to what extent Spanish-language disinformation and hateful activities are proactively monitored, user-reported, and removed from the platform. Information should be included in public transparency reports that detail discrepancies between labeling or removing Spanish vs. English content and how their enforcement practices are broken down by language.

Coalition Organizations Include:

• Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
• Battle Born Progress
• Common Cause
• Disinfo Defense League (DDL)
• Equis Labs
• Florida Watch
• Free Press
• Fundamedios
• Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHM)
• Green Latinos
• Hispanics in Philanthropy
• La Mesa Boricua de Florida
• Mi Familia Vota
• NALEO Educational Fund
• National Hispanic Media Coalition
• New York University (NYU)
• Omidyar Network
• Poder Latinx
• Reset Tech
• Somos Votantes
• The Trans Latin@ Coalition
• Ultraviolet
• United We Dream
• Upshift Strategies
• Voto Latino
• We Are Casa

Change the Terms

The National Hispanic Media Coalition is a founding member of The Change the Terms coalition, which works towards reducing hate online. As internet platforms provide more opportunities for people around the world to connect, they have also provided a forum for certain groups to spread hate, fear, and abusive behavior.
The deadly neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, was organized with the use of Facebook, PayPal, and Discord.
The violent Proud Boys group vets new applicants through Facebook, and have seen an uptick in applications since summer 2018.
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Some technology companies have made steps in the right direction to reduce hateful activities online, but more work needs to be done. Over the past year, the Change the Terms coalition has met with experts on terrorism, human rights, and technology around the world to gather insights on how hate operates online and how it can be stopped.
The result of those conversations was the creation of recommended corporate policies and terms of service to ensure that social media platforms, payment service providers, and other internet-based services are not places where hateful activities and extremism can grow.
To learn more about our work, visit: https://www.changetheterms.org/