A class of students from the National High School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences "Academician Lyubomir Chakalov" in Sofia led by their teacher Neli Georgieva just became a part of Sofia Development Association’s “Positive Messengers – HOT LINE” campaign.

On 16th March 2018 both the students and the experts from SDA looked for answers to questions like “What does hate speech mean?”, “Where is it most commonly found?”, “Who are hate speech’s most common victims?”, “How can we counter online hate speech?”, “Is there a point in creating mechanisms to report online hate speech and its sources?” and “Should new mechanisms be created or will this be taken as a hit on the idea of a free speech Internet space?”.

The group of young people joined the Coalition and shared their positive messages like “Don’t judge a book by its cover – get to know somebody before you make assumptions.”, “Nobody is born a racist!”, “Words matter. Choose them carefully. They can be a source of true love, or pointless arguments.” and “To all the gamers out there – Don’t hate – play the game!”

Nadya Obretenova – a leading journalist from the Bulgarian National Television and author of the book “Who Sits Against You on the Net?” – was a special guest of the event. She warned the new Coalition members that everything that is once said on the net stays there forever and can be used against you after time.