As a surge of hate speech in EU countries like Portugal and Sweden is raising concerns, how is the online sphere behaving?

Brussels

The European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance has urged Sweden, Portugal, Croatia, and Latvia to intensify their efforts against hate speech, following a recorded surge in online toxicity across the EU. Data from the European Observatory of Online Hate indicates that 2025 has seen medium levels of online toxicity, with April marking the highest levels so far this year.

Antisemitic content registered the highest toxicity scores, followed by anti-Roma, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-Muslim narratives. While sexist content had the lowest average toxicity score, it accounted for the largest volume of toxic posts, with nearly 3 million examples noted by the observatory.

European Commission tries to crack down on hate speech online

What's happening online as the European Commission tries to crack down on hate speech? The European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance has called on Sweden, Portugal, Croatia and Latvia to take stronger action against hate speech. This comes as an average medium level of online toxicity has been recorded since the beginning of 2025, according to the European Observatory of Online Hate. In April, the observatory recorded the highest level of toxicity seen so far this year at 0.22 out of 1. In May, antisemitism maintained the highest average toxicity score at 0.34. After antisemitic comments, anti-Roma content was the second most common kind of online hate speech. A score of 0.30 showed how this community continues to be targeted by online users. Anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-Muslim narratives both registered significant toxicity levels at 0.29 and 0.28 respectively, while anti-refugee content scored 0.23. Although sexist content recorded the lowest average toxicity score at 0.19, these insults still represented the highest volume of toxic posts, with the observatory noting almost 3 million examples. This figure is over three times the number of anti-Roma posts and more than double that of posts targeting LGBTQ+.

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