4.4 – Criticizing extremism Observation In closely related speech, when people mentioned that there are good and bad people in every group under interfaith posts, some users used this space as an opportunity to express criticism of extremism and nationalism. Thus, anchor posts relating to positive inter-religious interactions became spaces for anti-extremist comments. Such comments expressed their disbelief as well as expressed disgust. In this case, many criticisms were directed towards MaBaTha or Buddhist nationalism in general.21 Interpretations Positive interfaith contents may give people real life evidence that serves as a counter to ideas promoted by groups like MaBaTha. Such anchors offer a site for confirming an anti-extremist stance, and that this stance is shared by others. Implications This highlights an additional potential benefit to promoting Facebook content that emphasizes positive messages. Not only does it counter hate speech it can also create a site in which people can confirm an anti-extremist stance and a shared position within a group who share similar stances against extremism 4.5 – The concept of Karma Observations Counter speech also used the Buddhist concept of karma when it made a moral plea for speakers of hate-speech to be more sympathetic. This occurred in two ways in the comments: 1) to intimidate the hate-speech speakers, by pointing to the possible karmic consequences of being abusive; 2) to blame the hate-speech speakers, for being unsympathetic towards someone else’s difficult situation and thus threaten that they could face the same fate as the people they are abusing. This latter response was most common in counter-speech to anti-LGBT speech and to a lesser degree under posts related to ethnicity22. Implications Counter speech using the concept of karma is closely related to the value of sympathy and speakers may be speaking up genuinely for people who are targeted. But care should be taken because such comments can also indirectly confirm the hate-speech. For example, counter speech under anti-LGBTQ posts that said, ‘do you want your children to be like them too?’ may request the hate-speech speaker to stop, but it confirms the ideas that being LGBTQ is bad. 21 22 Annex 11 Annex 12 19