[Note: For more information about the specific fees follow the link near the end of the Call, and for general information about publication fees, see AJE Scholar’s “Understanding Submission and Publication Fees” and Wikipedia’s entry on Article Processing Charges. –Matthew]

Call for Papers:

The Role of AI for Counter Speech: Detection, Intervention, and Risks
A thematic issue of the journal Media and Communication
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/issue/futureissues#i500

Academic Editors: Lena Frischlich (University of Southern Denmark – Odense), Cathy Buerger (Dangerous Speech Project), and Magdalena Obermaier (LMU Munich)

Important dates:

• Submission of Abstracts: November 1-15, 2025
• Submission of Full Papers: March 15-31, 2026
• Publication of the Issue: July/December 2026

Submit Abstract

ABOUT THE ISSUE

Uncivil online communication, such as personal harassment, hate speech, or hateful misinformation, poses a pressing challenge in Western democracies and beyond. Most users regularly encounter such incidents, with marginalised groups and professional communicators like journalists being particularly affected. The consequences for individuals, digital discourse, and society at large are profound. Identifying these incidents and responding with counterspeech or reporting can help mitigate their impact. In addition to, or in support of, interventions by internet users, AI could have a crucial role in detecting and addressing uncivil online communication.

For example, journalists and fact-checkers can leverage AI tools to identify uncivil online comments, enabling them to manually moderate, verify, and debunk harmful content (Dierickx & Lindén, 2023; Stoll et al., 2019). Likewise, citizens who regularly engage in counterspeech can benefit from AI tools to receive factual support, maintain emotional detachment, and seek assistance when faced with harmful speech in response to their counterspeech efforts (Mun et al., 2024; Obermaier et al., 2023). However, counterspeakers themselves are concerned about the potentially negative effects of AI on people’s perceptions of the authenticity of counterspeech, their own agency, and the functionality of counterspeech (Mun et al., 2024). Similarly, users’ willingness to engage with innovative counterspeech technologies varies along the specific characteristics of the technology, such as its risk of depleting already limited resources even more (Frischlich et al., 2024).

This thematic issue aims to consolidate cutting-edge research on the use of AI for detecting and countering uncivil online communication, user perceptions of AI use in counterspeech, and the associated risks and opportunities of this AI application. Potential contributions can include, but are not limited to, articles that:

• Develop, test, or employ AI to detect or respond to uncivil communication or counterspeech;
• Study the perspectives of senders, targets, bystanders, moderators, etc., on the employment of AI;
• Present or discuss theoretical frameworks for understanding human–AI relationships in the context of counterspeech;
• Reflect on normative or regulatory frameworks around AI and counterspeech;
• Employ qualitative, quantitative, or computational measures.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal’s instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here). When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Media and Communication is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

OPEN ACCESS

Readers across the globe will be able to access, share, and download this issue entirely for free. Corresponding authors affiliated with any of our institutional members (over 90 institutions worldwide) publish free of charge. Otherwise, an article processing fee will be charged to the authors to cover editorial costs. We defend that authors should not have to personally pay this fee and encourage them to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication costs. Further information about the journal’s open access charges can be found here.