The Broadcast Media Communications Deliberation Committee said on Monday it will begin focused monitoring of hate, ridicule and discriminatory content spreading on social media in the form of short-form videos and memes.

The step follows concerns that hateful and discriminatory expressions are rapidly spreading through platform recommendation algorithms and could negatively affect teenagers’ formation of values.

The committee has stepped up surveillance of expressions that incite violence or undermine human dignity on the grounds of gender, disability, age and other factors since the revised Information and Communications Network Act took effect in July. From April to now, it has requested corrective measures, including deletion and access blocking, for 625 cases of malicious hate, ridicule and discriminatory content targeting specific groups and marginalised groups.

It also asked platform operators to check the circulation of content that promotes discrimination and prejudice and to take voluntary steps to prevent its distribution. Since last month, it has also been providing media ethics education for aspiring creators at high schools nationwide.

The committee said it would respond with zero tolerance to illegal and harmful content that disparages socially marginalised groups such as people with disabilities and the elderly or promotes discrimination and prejudice without reasonable grounds. It said it would conduct deliberations by comprehensively considering factors including the context of posts so that legitimate criticism and satirical expression are not chilled.