El Oberaxe incorpora la inteligencia artificial para combatir el discurso de odio gracias al convenio entre LALIGA y el Ministerio de Migraciones

The Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia (OBERAXE), dependent on the State Secretariat for Migration, and LALIGA presented the new FARO System, which will allow access to thousands of daily messages and increase by a minimum of 20% the number of contents reported as hate speech to platforms. The presentation was attended by Pilar Cancela, Secretary of State for Migration; Ángel Fernández, director of Brand and Strategy of LALIGA; and Andrés Poves, global director of consulting of the company Séntisis Intelligence.

Cancela said that “we have taken a step not only quantitative, but qualitative in one of the objectives that we have set ourselves from the Government of Spain and, specifically, this Secretary of State through OBERAXE: the eradication of hate speech, which on social networks has a worrying impact and proliferation”. The Secretary of State stressed the need to be able to access scientific data to detect racist and xenophobic discourse, but also to be able to design policies and actions aimed at eradicating it.

In this regard, he referred to some of the data extracted from the February monitoring bulletin, the last one before using the new tool. Once again, hate speech is related to citizen insecurity, with 40% of the messages denounced, and more than 50% present an explicit aggressive speech. But the highlight is that almost 60% of the content is based on perceptions, reflecting how the concept of insecurity can be distorted or exaggerated in speeches. “This perception, fed in many cases by stereotypes and prejudices, plays a key role in the construction of social narratives that associate certain groups with criminality and the threat to public security,” he said.

Hence, public-private collaboration acquires special relevance, such as the agreement recently signed with LALIGA, which Pilar Cancela set as an example, thanking the cession of the tool and announcing new and upcoming collaborations within this framework to be able to advance in the eradication of hate speech in sport and “from sport”.

This collaboration was also referred to by the director of Brand and Strategy of LALIGA, Ángel Fernández, who stressed the “great utility” that the FARO system will also have for LALIGA, which “will give us the light” to “decide” on the actions it promotes and “clean up these contents” of social networks, but also of football fields. Fernández appealed to the participation of society as a whole in this fight against racist, xenophobic, sexist and homophobic discourse, and emphasized the “feeling of impunity” that exists so that these contents can proliferate; hence, agreements such as the one signed by the Ministry of Migration and LALIGA represent a step forward to combat this discourse.

Real-time identification and analysis

The FARO System is the new methodology that OBERAXE is going to use, from now on, for the identification and analysis in real time of the content of hate speech with racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and anti-Gypsy motivation, published in five of the social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X) with greater implementation in Spain; and that may be constitutive of crime, of administrative infringement, or that violate the rules of use of the platforms for the provision of digital services.

The development of the FARO System was born in October 2024, thanks to the agreement signed between the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration and LALIGA to combat hate speech from sport. This joint work has allowed OBERAXE to deepen and multiply the scope of the work that it had already been doing since 2020 on the basis of the monitoring methodology established in the compliance assessment exercises of the Code of Conduct for the fight against illegal incitement to hatred on the Internet, signed in 2016 by the European Commission with the main social media platforms implemented on European territory.

The FARO System incorporates the use of artificial intelligence technology, trained on the LALIGA Monitor for Hate Watching in Sport (MOOD), to the knowledge and experience that OBERAXE has in monitoring hate speech on social networks. In addition, the new system combines the use of two tools, Monitor FARO and ALERTODIO, together with a new working methodology that concerns both the identification of contents and the analysis and presentation of results through a real-time data visualization monitor.

On the one hand, it has the FARO monitor, developed by the technological company Séntisis Intelligence, which constitutes the specific adaptation of the MOOD tool to the object of study of the OBERAXE. This FARO monitor allows, in an automated way and in real time, the capture of hate speech content on social networks and its categorization based on the variables used in the analysis.

On the other hand, regarding the reporting of content to platforms and the evaluation of their responses, the ALERTODIO tool is used, designed by OBERAXE and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), which allows to record the contents notified and keep track of the actions taken by platforms before the notifications sent.

The data display monitor of the FARO System is available for consultation of all citizens in the new OBERAXE web portal.

The OBERAXE renews its image and its web portal

This new web portal offers easy and intuitive access to all the contents and services offered by OBERAXE. In addition, it presents a more accessible and attractive structure for the citizen, which improves navigation and becomes a very useful search tool for relevant information related to the fight against racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance in Spain.

Access to information occupies a prominent place in the new web portal. Now you can access the news published by OBERAXE individually and classified by area of action; all the national and international projects carried out by OBERAXE since its creation; as well as the extensive catalogue of publications and thematic studies carried out since 2005.

The actions carried out in the context of the “Strategic Framework of Citizenship and Inclusion, against Racism and Xenophobia 2023-2027”, the “Agreement to Cooperate Institutionally against Racism, Xenophobia, LGTBIphobia and Other Forms of Intolerance”, as well as all the bulletins for monitoring illegal hate speech online published since 2020, can also be consulted.
 
Section to help victims of discrimination

The website also includes a section to help victims who may have suffered some kind of discrimination, where they can access the necessary information on legal care, psychological care, advice, mediation and other resources of interest. In addition, the new web portal will continue to offer all interested parties the subscription to the weekly newsletter with information on racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance, as well as hate crimes and hate speech.

With the renewal of the portal, the new image of the OBERAXE is also presented, with a more modern and closer logo, which is adapted to the values and mission of the Observatory.

We have worked on a website adapted to mobiles and tablets, which is crucial since more and more users access the Internet from this type of device. Use blank spaces to improve readability and avoid visual overload. It also creates a clear visual hierarchy using different sizes, colors and positions of the elements. All this to improve accessibility and improve the experience of all people. Through the new website you will continue to have access to OBERAXE’s YouTube and WhatsApp channels.