ABSTRACT
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 created a regulatory environment in which companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google can claim that they are not publishers of content and are therefore not responsible for harmful content posted by users. Abusers and harassers have exploited this environment and the hands-off policies of software companies in order to turn software into a weapon. In this chapter, we argue that the actions of regulators and corporations have helped foster the creation of something we call hateware, software that employs policies, algorithms, and designs that enable abuse, harassment, and other harmful behaviors. In this chapter, we examine Discord, a text and chat application, that was used to plan the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. By analyzing the unique features of this platform and how it was used by members of the so-called “alt right,” we argue that design decisions, policies, and community norms can transform seemingly “neutral” software into hateware.
