Called A Guide to Best Practice in Ethical Digital Marketing & Comms Practices, it is from Charities Against Hate, which represents a diverse collective of UK charities. The guide is available here.
Recommendations include: visibly engaging with hate speech on social media, where appropriate; promoting positive, diverse and inclusive content on charity-owned channels that represents the charity’s audiences; and ensuring adequate wellbeing support for charity social media moderators.
The launch comes as a new survey of 224 charity beneficiaries by Charities Against Hate found 81 per cent had experienced hate online themselves or witnessed others being targeted. It also found 77 per cent of charity staff have not received training to support them in dealing with online hate.
Simon Francis, founder member of Campaign Collective and chair of the PRCA Charity Group, said: "While the increased use of technology to keep us connected during the pandemic has been a positive step, we have also seen a drastic increase in hate speech online. This hate speech affects almost every group of society - no matter what cause you are fighting for, it is a sad reality that putting your head above the parapet can be met with abuse.
"Today's research reveals the extent of the problem and enough is enough. The first step is for charities and their supporters themselves to take action. The recommendations published today will help the sector do more to address hate speech online and in the new year Charities Against Hate will be making recommendations for media owners to follow."
