Spain’s government has unveiled a new initiative, HODIO — the so‑called “Hate and Polarization Footprint” — to track and rank the presence of hate speech on social media. Experts in digital law and freedom of expression have raised serious concerns about its implications. In particular, Joan Barata, founding member of MEDEA and expert in digital rights and free speech, has criticized the plan as fundamentally flawed and potentially harmful to core democratic freedoms.
Barata argues that likening online expression to a measurable “pollutant” misunderstands the nature of free speech and risks eroding fundamental rights. He emphasizes that expressing hate is not in itself a crime under democratic legal standards and warns that overly broad definitions of “hate” could sweep in legitimate and controversial speech. Barata also underscores that the European Union’s Digital Services Act already provides a detailed framework for addressing harmful content and algorithmic amplification, making a separate national tracking tool redundant and legally problematic.
Source: “’Es un disparate’: experts warn about plan to track the ‘hate footprint’ online”, El Periódico — read the original article here: https://www.elperiodico.com/es/politica/20260312/disparate-expertos-libertad-expresion-alertan-gobierno-pedro-sanchez-rastrear-redes-sociales-delito-odio-polarizacion-censura-127823007