ISD Glossary
ISD’s Glossary provides clear definitions of key terms related to extremism, hate, information operations and tech accountability. This page is continually reviewed to ensure accuracy.
Harmful Content and Harmful Behaviours
We use harmful content and behaviours to refer to a broad spectrum of online activities that can have a negative impact on human rights, society and/or democracy. These can include targeted harassment of individuals, incitement of violence against a particular group or the spreading of disinformation and harmful conspiracy theories. In some instances, the risk of harm may be intrinsic to the content itself, with the risks exacerbated by amplification; in others, the harm may be caused by aggregate patterns of behaviour rather than the nature of the content itself. Depending on the geographic and legal context, different forms of harmful content and behaviours may or may not be illegal. Depending on the platform, these also may or may not be covered by a company’s ‘Community Guidelines’, standards
Hate
ISD defines hate as an activity which seeks to dehumanise, demonise, harass, threaten or incite violence against an individual or community based on their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability or migrant status.
Hyper-partisan
This term is used to describe a piece of content, media source or actor that discusses politics from a single partisan point of view, often sensationalising and vilifying political opponents.
