Word Crimes: an approach to forensic linguistics in digital discourse

Abstract

Where does the joke or discourtesy end and the crime begins? The advent of digitalization and globalization have given power and spaces for expression to each individual and group voice. However, mass communication shows cracks and imbalances in the use of that freedom, which is also a right: the word is often used without being aware of its legal implications. Although it is an advance that we can all express ourselves freely in any forum or network, the truth is that the effect of inadequate intervention is not sufficiently known, especially among the younger generations. For example, in the face of threats, hate speech, false accusations, insults, slander, falsehood, offense, libel, defamation, do we know their social scope (Fairclough, 1995) and their corresponding penalties? The aim of this paper is to review the current relationship between laws and the uses that proliferate in digital media. After collecting statistical data and studying cases, it is deduced that it is urgent to inform about the risks and the typified crimes, to teach and promote good practices and ethical alternatives, in addition to promoting channels to preserve a free expression exercised as a conscious right and free of criminal risks. In this sense, studies of linguistic awareness (Van Lier, 1996) and linguistic sensitivity (Silvestre & Pardo, 2024) come to fill this niche.