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Digital values: for better interaction on the Internet

Interaction with each other has become noticeably rougher in recent years – both online and offline. Hatred, exclusion and looking the other way endanger social cohesion. This makes it all the more important to look, take a stand and stand up for each other. With initiatives to promote the digital society, Deutsche Telekom is committed to solidarity, cohesion and civil courage. We want to encourage people not to look away, but to support those affected and to actively work for a better togetherness.

We also address this topic in the Sustainability statement 2025. Closely linked to “Digital values” is also our commitment to digital inclusion, which we describe here in the CR report under Digital inclusion.

Milestones, initiatives, measures and goals achieved

For many years, we have been campaigning for respectful behavior online and against the spread of disinformation.

With the initiative “No Hate Speech”, we have been campaigning since 2020 for an internet in which everyone can take advantage of the opportunities of the digital world without having to fear exclusion or hatred. The initiative began in Germany, but has since expanded significantly: Many of our national companies now implement their own programs against hate on the internet. We will continue this long-standing commitment beyond the reporting year.

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Where we come from

  • Our initiative “No Hate Speech” started with the campaign “Words must not become a weapon”.

  • Our “Influencer” campaign focused on dealing with hate in social media. Hate on the internet can affect anyone, minorities and marginalized groups as well as influencers are particularly affected.

  • In our “Together #NoHateSpeech” campaign, we focused on the power of community. Under the motto “Be louder than the hate”, we encouraged society to work together for respectful coexistence on the internet.

  • In Austria, Magenta Telekom amended its general terms and conditions, where customers were informed about possible criminal consequences for spreading hate messages. Those affected also found tips and information on reporting offices.

  • With the campaign “No Hate Speech – we decide!”, we illustrated the effect that even a single positive comment against hate can have.

  • Together with FC Bayern Munich, we called for more attitude in the digital space in two spots.

  • In the “Lights on!” campaign, we emphasized the power of community. The light as a symbol showed: Each of us can actively take action against hatred, racism and anti-Semitism and make a difference.

  • With the campaign “Let’s question what we share”, we called for the responsible use of information on the internet.

  • In T‑Systems’ X-Creation innovation program, we worked with various partners, including NGOs, AI experts and start-ups, to develop digital approaches to competently counter disinformation.

Where we stand in the reporting year

  • With our “Open your eyes!” campaign, we are making the increasing brutalization in the digital space visible and, with a campaign film, we are calling on people to take a look and take action against hate wherever it manifests itself.

  • Together with FC Bayern Munich, we are calling for a responsible use of information on the internet in two additional campaigns. We encourage respectful behavior, fair play and civil courage and show ways to actively counteract hate and disinformation.

  • Our initiative “No Hate Speech” is also growing outside Germany: In Slovakia, we are launching “Absolventi šikany” to prevent cyberbullying, while T‑Mobile Polska’s campaign #HejtOutLoveIn is calling for online hate not to be accepted and to take an active stance. A total of six European national companies are participating in the initiative.

Where we want to go

  • We intend to continue and further develop our commitment to combating hate speech on the internet beyond the reporting year. Among other things, we want to focus on children and young people, as they need special protection and orientation in the digital space.

With our measures, we are contributing to our Group-wide goal of reaching more than 80 million people cumulatively between 2024 and 2027 with offers to promote the digital society. For more information on this goal, see Digital inclusion in this CR report.

“Together – No Hate Speech”: open your eyes

People in the subway are staring at a mother with a baby (Photo)

In the reporting year, the initiative focused on the “Open your eyes!” campaign. It picks up on the increasing brutalization in the digital space and shows how much hate on the internet endangers our social interaction. A central campaign film transfers digital hostility into real everyday situations. This is to make it clear that looking the other way exacerbates the problem. The message: “Turning a blind eye is not a solution”. With it, we call on people to take a stand and actively take action against hate wherever it manifests itself The initiative is supported by our partners ichbinhier e. V. and the Internet-Beschwerdestelle.de. Parents and educators can find further materials and information via our media literacy platform Teachtoday.

People who spread hatred feel confirmed by a lack of resistance. That is why we also have to look at the digital world, connect and stick together.

Marike Mehlmann-Tripp Cluster Lead Social Engagement, Deutsche Telekom AG

Protecting those affected together

You can find an overview of our partners in Germany on our

website

Together with partners, we support people who are affected by hate on the internet with concrete offers of help. In several countries, including Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and North Macedonia, we work with organizations that specifically oppose exclusion and promote respectful cooperation on the internet.

Artificial intelligence (AI) in action against disinformation

Disinformation is a growing societal challenge. To counter it, we continued to work on digital solutions in 2025. This includes the further development of an AI-supported fact-checking app that is intended to support users in critically reviewing content before sharing. In the 2025 international innovation competition “T-Challenge”, we also awarded Resemble AI, whose AI solution can detect manipulated audio and speech content. This should help to better identify deepfakes and false information.

Further information on our initiatives for the responsible use of AI can be found in our audited Sustainability statement in the Annual Report 2025.

Europe segment: when online hate does not remain without consequences (Slovak Telekom & T‑Mobile Polska)

Online hate often affects young people. In 2025, Slovak Telekom and T‑Mobile Polska therefore continued their initiatives to support affected young people. In Slovakia, Absolventišikany.sk offers concrete help against cyberbullying among students, from understandable information to psychological support. In Poland, T‑Mobile Polska is calling on #HejtOutLoveIn to stop accepting online hate, but to take a stand and actively stand up against it.

“Together – No Hate Speech”: what we achieved in 2025

Network on phone (Icon)

Around 1.4 billion media contacts achieved a

People network (Icon)

More than 7.2 million people reached with our content – directly or through multipliers such as parents or educators

“Equal Esports”: for respectful interaction in gaming

In 2025, we continued to advocate for more diversity and respect in Esports and gaming. Our goal is to empower people who are particularly often confronted with hostility in Esports – especially women and non-binary people. Together with the Esports organization “SK Gaming” and the “esports player foundation”, we therefore launched the “Equal Esports” initiative in Germany in 2021. At our appearance at Gamescom 2025, we once again made our commitment visible.

Looking ahead

In 2025, more than 7.2 million people engaged with our content against hate online – directly or through multipliers such as parents or educators. At the same time, we see that especially in uncertain times, it is important to actively strengthen digital cohesion and digital skills. That is why we continue our commitment against exclusion, hatred and disinformation. In the future, we will focus even more on children and young people who need special protection and orientation in the digital space.

Deep Dive for Experts

Management & Frameworks

  • Both within the company and outside of it, we want to promote respectful and appreciative cooperation. This also applies to our communication culture. With our social media guidelines, we create transparency and security for all employees when using social media platforms. These principles apply to both internal and external Deutsche Telekom platforms as well as to privately used social media accounts of employees if posts published there have a reference to Deutsche Telekom. The principles also have a practical function, as they help to protect us from harm. In the digital space, there are numerous stumbling blocks that need to be considered and that we want to avoid.

  • Deutsche Telekom’s brand positioning provides a clear guideline for our communication: It translates our purpose and values into tonality and behavior – clearly, transparently and fairly. In this way, our statements remain consistent and comprehensible.

  • In 2018, we were one of the first companies in the world to develop digital ethics guidelines on AI. They illustrate how we deal responsibly with AI. Our AI guidelines follow the approach of AI that develops around and for humans and refer to legal foundations as well as to our Code of Human Rights. In this agreement, we commit ourselves to respecting and promoting human rights and to assuming responsibility. T‑Mobile US steers the responsible use of AI through its Responsible AI Policy and Guidelines.

  • In our “Corporate Digital Responsibility@Deutsche Telekom” framework, we summarize how we understand digital responsibility. At the core of the CDR framework is our “House of Digital Responsibility”, which is all about human-centered technology.

Relevant Standards

  • GSMA-INT-03 (Online safety measures)

AI – Artificial Intelligence
AI describes the ability of a machine or software to imitate human capabilities, such as logical thinking, learning, and planning. Generative Artificial Intelligence (also known as GenAI) – as a branch of artificial intelligence – is used to generate new content, such as text, images, music, or videos.
Glossary
App
App stands for application and denotes any type of application program. In the narrower sense, apps are programs that can be directly downloaded to a smartphone or tablet PC from an online shop. They offer diverse functions such as timetable information, games and translations.
Glossary
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying (also known as cyber stalking, e-bullying, etc.) refers to insulting, threatening, compromising or victimizing behavior via modern communication channels such as mobile communications or the Internet.
Glossary
Digital responsibility
Responsibility is the usually voluntary assumption of obligations and the assumption of liability for one’s actions. Digital responsibility is the assumption of this responsibility in the digital world.
Glossary

a aThe number of media contacts describes how often our communication measures on “No Hate Speech” were viewed in total within a calendar year. Individual persons can be counted several times. The determination of media contacts is based on external reach data from media studies as well as on data from marketers, platforms and internal evaluation systems.

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