Web Science Doctoral Student co-authors Ofcom report

Emily Burden, an iPhD student with the Web Science Centre for Doctoral Training, recently co-authored a report on online hate regulation, with Professor Helen Margetts OBE, and Dr Bertie Vidgen.

Understanding Online Hate: VSP regulation and the broader context , was commissioned by Ofcom, who have been appointed by the government as the new online harms regulator. The report: 'aims to contribute to our understanding of online hate in the context of the requirements of the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) 1 for Video Sharing Platforms (VSPs)2 to protect the general public from incitement to hatred or violence'.

About her experience at the Turing, Emily says : ‘I was offered this role after working as a research annotator on another hate speech project at the Turing which aimed to measure, analyse and counter online hate speech with advanced computational methods. In terms of its relation to my PhD, I am investigating far-right extremism online and so this role has developed my knowledge of the online harms landscape more broadly, and the legal, ethical and technological challenges of responding to hateful content. It has been an invaluable experience both in terms of working collaboratively with Ofcom, and advancing my researching and writing skills for a broad audience.