Notes on methodology. 1.2.1. Material scope of the research As described above, the present research is focused on the analysis of legislative re- sponses against the dissemination of online illegal or harmful content, with a close eye on the phenomenon of hate speech. In this respect, the notion itself of hate speech is not always clear, also due to the significant increase in the use of the term in everyday lan- guage and in the context of non-legal debates and discussions. As better clarified within Chapter 2, the present research mainly refers to a concept of hate speech that is, in its essence, comparable to that adopted by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance inside its General Policy Recommendation No. 15.19 Admittedly, the definition contained within that Recommendation is in fact rather am- ple as regards its scope of application, because it considers as relevant a wide variety of expressive conducts. Nevertheless, that definition is highly relevant inasmuch as it clari- fies that the specific feature distinguishing hate speech is that it is “based on a non-ex- haustive list of personal characteristics or status that includes ‘race’, colour, language, religion or belief, nationality or national or ethnic origin, as well as descent, age, disabil- ity, sex, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation”.20 In other words, hate speech is inherently rooted in and is a direct expression of discrimination.21 It is for this reason that, within the present work, specific attention is given to the analysis of the phenomenon of hate speech under the lens of its strict interrelation with the typical categories of anti-discrimination law. In particular, the work borrows from that field the concept of substantive equality, intended as the – constitutionally relevant – as- piration towards the active elimination of the barriers to the pursuit of true equality be- tween societal demographics. More specifically, the work tends to refer to the concept of substantive equality as theorized by Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx, who, rather than considering it as a unitary principle, identifies it as a complex one, composed of a variety of dimensions.22 Particular attention will be given to the “participative” dimension of substantive equality, 19 European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, ‘General Policy Recommendation No. 15 on Combating Hate Speech’ (Council of Europe 2015) CRI(2016)5. See infra, §2.2.3.1. 20 ibid.
