The Council of Europe is accompanying countries in the fight against all forms of religious intolerance online

The fifth edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, organised under the auspices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye, under the theme "Mapping tomorrow, managing uncertainties", has taken place, bringing together leaders, policymakers, diplomats, academics, business experts, the media, and civil society.

Among the highlights of the forum was a panel discussion - "Bias at scale: digitalisation of Islamophobia and racism" - which addressed the ways artificial intelligence and the digital public sphere are exacerbating anti-Muslim hatred and other forms of online discrimination. The panel featured the UN Special Envoy Miguel Ángel Moratinos; Ambassador Evren Dağdelen Akgün, the OSCE Chairpersonship's Personal Representative on Combating Intolerance against Muslims); Ambassador Mehmet Paçacı (OIC Special Envoy on Islamophobia); academics Şener Aktürk (Koç University, Türkiye) and Salman Sayyid (University of Leeds, United Kingdom); and the Special Representative of the Council of Europe Secretary General on Antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred and all forms of religious intolerance Irene Kitsou-Milonas.

The panel was in broad agreement that only through coordinated and multi-actor cooperation can Europe and the world ensure safe, inclusive online and offline spaces for all. The importance of the Council of Europe's work in that field was underlined.

How Council of Europe standards help

Irene Kitsou-Milonas underlined that the Council of Europe's standards have consistently evolved in response to digital developments. From the European Court of Human Rights case-law setting the limits of freedom of expression in the context of religious hatred, the 2022 Committee of Ministers' Recommendation on combating hate speech (offline and online) to Recommendation CM/Rec(2026)4 on online safety and empowerment of users and content creators - which, while upholding liability exemptions of platforms for the illegal content they host ("safe harbour"), provides a framework for developing laws holding platforms accountable for how they deal with illegal and other harmful content. These standards and the 2024 Framework Convention on artificial intelligence and human rights, democracy and the rule of law, along with ECRI's General Policy Recommendation No. 5 on combating anti-Muslim racism and discrimination, provide essential guidance for addressing digital religious intolerance and are a top priority for the work of her office.

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