Online hate, for example with discriminatory, threatening or hateful content, has become a serious problem that we as a society cannot afford to ignore.

Das NETTZ wants to counter this and has founded the Networking Center against Hate Speech for this purpose. NETTZ is Germany's only networking center against hate speech on the internet. It promotes digital civil courage and advocates a constructive culture of discourse online.

How do we do that? The NETTZ supports people and initiatives that are committed to positive discourse culture and digital civil courage and increases their reach and effectiveness.

Transparency is important: the NETTZ makes knowledge on the topic transparent and easy to find, facilitates the exchange of experience and provides resources for the operational work of the community. We ourselves have joined the 'Transparent Civil Society' initiative.

Since 2021, Das NETTZ has been one of the supporting organizations in the KOMPETENZNETZWERK GEGEN HASS IM NETZ, an association of five established organizations that are committed to combating hate speech and violence in the digital space: Das NETTZ, Gesellschaft für Medienpädagogik und Kommunikationskultur, HateAid, jugendschutz.net and Neue deutsche Medienmacher*innen.

In order to better understand the dynamics of hate online, Das NETTZ has been setting up its own research centre as part of the FEDERAL WORKING GROUP "AGAINST HATE ON THE NET" since 2021 to support evidence-based interventions by civil society organizations.