The European Union is founded on the principles of human dignity and equal treatment irrespective of racial or ethnic origin. Upholding this commitment, the European Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, recently called EU member states to "do their utmost to prevent national or ethnic minorities, in particular Roma, from becoming scapegoats in the current crisis". Yet the Covid-19 pandemic has already unveiled anti-Roma sentiments across Europe, and this opens up a necessary debate on racism in our European societies.

Following the spread of the Covid19 virus in France, the President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron communicated on 16 March 2020 the containment measures recommended by the crisis cell and adopted by the National Assembly on the same day. This speech, using defence and nationalist rhetoric, combines a feeling of anxiety with a feeling of belonging to a single national community that must be protected. It prioritises protection measures according to membership of this national community and de facto excludes vulnerable categories of foreigners from national containment measures.

Perhaps without even noticing, you have read about data racism several times in the news in the past months. What is it? This blog seeks to explain - in the context of an emerging strand of work at the European Network Against Racism exploring racism in the digital space.