As hate speech online increases, so has the resistance From international campaigns to grassroots Facebook groups, many targeted by hate speech are finding new ways to fight it. Germany's Federal Agency for Civic Education describes hate speech as follows: "When people are devalued, attacked or when hatred or violence is called for against them, this is referred to as hate speech." Additionally, hate speech is described as "a generic term for the phenomenon of hostility against specific groups of people or sedition on the internet and social media platforms." A growing number of people are affected by hate speech, whether in the form of bullying at school or work, or through sexist, racist, trans- or homophobic insults online.