High-impact hate speech by persons of authority: A lower threshold needed?

This paper discusses a global trend in the approach to hate speech. It describes how the international human rights organisations are recently addressing the dynamics of hate speech and how academic thinking is stretching the framework of the justification of hate speech regulations. This work analyses the aspect of cause and effect in the light of the role of the speaker; examining the academic argument that content expressed by public figures of authority have a higher impact, in particular in the context of the digital media ecosystem, with a social media dominance.