Online hate: Pennies from sofa cracks for victim support in Austria
Legal and psychosocial counseling against online hate continues in Austria. Two SPĂ– ministries scrape remaining Euros from sofa cracks.
(Image: Bartolomiej Pietrzyk/Shutterstock.com)
Two times 150,000 Euros are intended to allow ZARA, the Austrian victim support facility for online hate and online racism, to survive for the time being. This was announced by Vice-Chancellor Andreas Babler and Women's Minister Eva-Maria Holzleitner (both SPĂ–). "These are remaining Euros that were scraped together from the last sofa cracks to provide this bridging financing," the minister said on Wednesday. Two days earlier, the news had caused a stir that Family Minister Claudia Bauer (Ă–VP) was abolishing the annual funding for victim support retroactively from the beginning of the year.
For ZARA, the 300,000 Euros are not a rescue, but just a band-aid. For the time being, the non-profit organization can continue to offer free legal and psychosocial counseling for victims of online hate, including their accompaniment in court proceedings. ZARA does not have to lay off all employees. Thanks to financial support from the City of Vienna, ZARA can also advise victims of online racism. In addition, ZARA is the only recognized reporting office ("Trusted Flagger") "in the area of cyber violence, cyber violence against women, illegal speech" according to the Digital Services Act in Austria.
For all of this, 300,000 Euros per year is clearly too little. Since 2017, Austria's Federal Chancellery has supported ZARA with initially 470,000 Euros, then 300,000 Euros, and most recently 330,000 Euros annually. A similar amount came annually from donations and the operation of the subsidiary ZARA Training. Long-term security of support for victims of online hate and online racism is still lacking in Austria.
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Family Minister Bauer, for "budgetary reasons," does not want to contribute anything more. Her coalition partners SPĂ– and NEOS feel snubbed. Bauer announced through a spokesperson that reporting and documenting discrimination are "among the tasks of the ombudsman for equal treatment." However, there is no talk of increasing the funds of the ombudsman for equal treatment for this additional work. Bauer's spokesperson also points out that in Austria, besides ZARA, there are seven other Trusted Flaggers. This is true, but they are accredited for other topics, such as consumer protection, rights of minors, unfair competition, or the enforcement of copyright levies.
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