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SXSW Reinstates Panels On Harassment, Adds All-Day Harassment Summit (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader writes: On Tuesday, the South by Southwest Festival announced that it had canceled a pair of panels about online harassment after receiving threats involving them. The cancellation generated a massive outcry, including threats from media organizations to withdraw their support for the festival. Now, SXSW has announced that they're reinstating the panels as part of an all-day summit dedicated to talking about online harassment. They said, "By canceling two sessions we sent an unintended message that SXSW not only tolerates online harassment but condones it, and for that we are truly sorry. The resulting feedback from the individuals involved and the community-at-large resonated loud and clear. While we made the decision in the interest of safety for all of our attendees, canceling sessions was not an appropriate response." They've scheduled more than two dozen speakers for the event, and they plan to stream it live online. "Online harassment is a serious matter and we stand firmly against hate speech and cyber-bullying. It is a menace that has often resulted in real world violence; the spread of discrimination; increased mental health issues and self-inflicted physical harm."

2 of 478 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Let me follow the logic by 0123456 · · Score: 0, Troll

    No, sounds like they were harassed into reinstating the plans.

    But SJWs always project.

  2. Re:Let me follow the logic by 0123456 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I know you're busy breathing through your mouth and that takes more brain activity, but think this through.

    HATE SPEECH! HATE SPEECH! HATE SPEECH!

    "Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING." - yes, I am yelling. That's what you should do when someone uses HATE SPEECH!