Finnish Tech Company Invents Polite Font

A Finnish tech company has released an unusual tool to help combat cyberbullying: a font.

A team of experts dealing with bullying, racism and other forms of intolerance has designed a font that blurs obscene words and replaces other harmful words with mild ones. The open-source font can be used in conjunction with popular word processors.

For example, if a user tries to type "I hate you", the sentence will automatically be replaced with "I disagree with you"; "She's ugly" will be replaced with "She's not beautiful from a traditional point of view".

Racially derogatory terms would be replaced with the proper term for the respective racial or religious group. Words directly related to obscenity are mosaicked.

"You're stupid" would be changed to "You're silly". Other insulting terms such as "dumb" and "idiot" have also been blurred.

The font is known as the "Polite Fonts".

Kia Haring, global head of communications and sustainability at development company tietoEVRY, said: "Our aim is to promote equality and tolerance. We hope bullies reconsider the words they use and the actual meaning behind them... Polite Fonts is a practical support to our vision of creating a safe and equal environment through digital solutions." 

Cyber violence has developed into something that we should not underestimate. According to a recent United Nations report, one-third of young children said that they were bullied online. TietoEVRY says that more than 35% of cyberbullying victims feel anxious as a result, and one-fifth said that they have lost sleep over being bullied. One in five people have chosen to skip school as a result of their bullying experience.

The team behind "Polite Fonts" points out that the quarantine measures taken after COVID-19 have made the problem of online bullying worse. "Increased isolation due to people not being able to meet in real life can make people more vulnerable to cyberbullying,"

Haring said: "Bullying is particularly harmful to children and young people. Young people don't have the same psychological tools as adults to deal with hate speech, which may leave them with long-term emotional scars."

The 1,800 words used in the font were compiled by organisations such as TietoEVRY and the Finnish Foundation for Youth and Children, aiming to promote diversity, inclusiveness and anti-racism.

The organization's mission statement says: "Hate speech is not an effective way to express differences of opinion. We hope that bullies will reflect on themselves."

They added that their long-term goal is to make permanent, even though seemingly small changes for a better world: "We believe that with our abilities, responsible use of technology and collaboration with the community, we can create a brighter future where achieving diversity and inclusion is the norm."