Coronavirus: website launched in US to track pandemic-inspired hate speech and abuse online
- The Anti-Semitism Accountability Project’s portal will collect reports of online attacks on Asian-Americans, Jews and others falsely blamed for the pandemic
- Founded by billionaire Ronald Lauder, ASAP launched the initiative in conjunction with the America China Public Affairs Institute
The Anti-Semitism Accountability Project (ASAP), a US-based Jewish advocacy organisation, has launched an incident reporting portal to track online hate speech and xenophobia targeting Jews, Asians and other minority communities in the US during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The move comes amid reports that white supremacists have mobilised online to blame Jews for the coronavirus, and amid an escalation of verbal and physical attacks against Asian-Americans because of the pandemic.
“While this virus may be new, the despicable hatred and scapegoating it has unleashed is age-old,” said Ronald Lauder, the cosmetics billionaire and president of the World Jewish Congress, who founded ASAP in December.
Started on Wednesday in conjunction with the America China Public Affairs Institute (ACPAI), the project aims to eventually “equip government officials and other anti-hate organisations with the necessary data to combat discrimination related to the coronavirus,” ASAP said in a statement.
The portal invites individuals who believe they have been targeted with “bias-motivated” harassment during the Covid-19 pandemic to submit the nature of the attack, along with their personal information and any supporting documents related to the incident.