Designing Against Hate: An Exploration of Speech and Affordances on Social Media

Civil society and governments across the world continue to push social media platforms for increased responsiveness to concerns about the abuse of technology. Recent nationally representative surveys reveal a widening trust deficit between the public and private technology companies. This has led to a growing job market for technology policy professionals that can help companies navigate complex issues related to online hate and harassment, and for engineers who understand user-needs for vulnerable communities.

This course will provide an opportunity for UC Berkeley graduate students to engage in lectures and guided design exercises aimed at improving the affordances of social media platforms with regard to civil and respectful discourse.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Explore relevant laws, policies, and community guidelines that govern speech and conduct on the internet.
• Gain a theoretical and practical understanding of the need for employing design principles to prevent social media platforms from being abused by users.
• Test relevant design principles on existing case studies and potentially on their own software UX and UI designs.
• Understand the different ways that social media platforms can and have been abused by bad actors, with a focus on the various forms of hate and harassment.