Hate speech is a rampant problem, especially amongst younger people. A massive part of their lives happens online. So, when they experience hate on social media, the consequences are even more devastating: Anxiety attacks, depression, even suicidal thoughts. The film shows those consequences, but starts at the very end, with the most shocking image at the beginning. From there, we tell the whole story backwards. Until it can possibly start over again, with someone making a different decision. Because that’s all it is. Someone making a decision. Every comment counts, good or horribly bad. Deutsche Telekom enables millions of customers to participate in digital life and is committed to a network without hate. This story is made to remind us, that the decisions we make online have consequences in real life, as well.

A young woman is standing on the edge of a rooftop, ready to jump. A gut-wrenching image. We see the haunting expression of decisiveness on her face. But something is off. As she steps back from the edge, shaky, we realize: everything we see is moving backwards. From the roof, we follow her back into her life, witnessing the pain she has had to endure, one hate comment at a time, only because she decided to do what countless others do: expressing herself on social media. While she re-watches her video over and over again, we see real hate comments coming in. She tries to cope with all the hate that pops up, it’s getting less and less as we go back in time. Up until she posts that video. And someone else sees it – and makes a decision. And thus rewrites the whole story.

As hate speech is a broad societal phenomenon, we needed to reach as many people as possible. Hence, we decided for a very cinematic format which was showed nationwide on TV and in cinemas as 60 and 40 second films. YouTube, Facebook and Instagram was also extensively used. But the real reason it became one of the most seen, most clicked, most talked about films in Germany this year was, because we didn’t shy away from hard truths, raw pictures and an all too real storyline. Awareness for the initiative went up by 42,7 % (way above target), as of right now the campaign has reached total contacts of 390 Mio, with a Listen Through Rate of 99 %. Every second person in Germany now connects the fight against hate speech with Deutsche Telekom.