The United Nations just sounded alarm bells about the rise of hate speech. "The rise and impact of hate speech is being amplified at an unprecedented scale … threatening peace around the world," the authors of a Jan. 30 report wrote .

The report joins a flurry of recent warnings — by members of the European Union , U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres , and others — about the rise of hate speech, as well as calls for the U.S. government to crack down on the problem.

Commentators are right to condemn the rise of violence and hatred toward minorities. However, the most reached-for solution, new laws regulating hate speech, would just make the problem worse.

For one thing, hate speech laws don't actually reduce hatred. Many countries in Europe have passed aggressive hate speech laws, but Western Europe as a whole still scores 24% on the antisemitism index created by the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit organization dedicated to measuring and fighting antisemitism. That means that 24% of Western Europeans harbor antisemitic views. In the United States, this number is only 10%.

This isn't a coincidence. A 2017 study published in the European Journal of Political Research found that the connection is at least somewhat causal: Western European extremism is partly fueled by "extensive public repression of radical right actors and opinions."

Why do hate speech laws create more extremism ? One reason is that they turn extremists into martyrs. When Hitler's star began to rise in the 1920s, Weimar Germany tried to censor him . The state shut down hundreds of Nazi newspapers and even banned Hitler from speaking in many parts of Germany. Rather than impeding Hitler's rise, this crackdown fueled it. The Nazis leveraged the government's censorship to build support for their campaign. One poster was illustrative. "Why is Adolf Hitler not allowed to speak?" it asked. "Because he is ruthless in uncovering the rulers of the German economy, the international bank Jews and their lackeys, the Democrats, Marxists, Jesuits, and Free Masons!"

Antisemites, from Hitler to Ye , formerly known as Kanye West, claim they're speaking truth to power and unearthing a giant conspiracy dedicated to keeping their countrymen down. Silencing them simply feeds into this claim. It suggests to people on the fence that the extremists might be on to something.

Isaac Saul, a Jewish reporter, wrote about this pattern after Ye's antisemitic tirades: "Ye says antisemitic things. Ye faces consequences (like all the businesses now severing ties with him). And those consequences are held up as 'proof' he's right." Saul is talking about private businesses cutting ties with Ye, but how much more fuel would it add to antisemitic conspiracy theories if the government stepped in to silence the musician?

So if hate speech laws don't work to prevent hatred, what does work? Counterspeech. When decent people confront and argue against hatred, whether racism or sexism or antisemitism, we can combat the siren song of these ideas. This isn't just theory. The U.N. itself says counterspeech is an effective remedy: "To counter hate speech, the United Nations supports more positive speech and upholds respect for freedom of expression as the norm."

Proponents of hate speech laws have noble intentions. One clear goal is to create a world in which the in-group cannot oppress the out-group, which is why these laws are often touted as a boon for minorities. But good intentions don't magically lead to good results. Rather than pushing for more laws cracking down on online hatred, commentators such as Guterres should look to counterspeech as a solution.

Robust counterspeech may do more than any law to create the tolerant and open-minded society that most of us want.

Julian Adorney is a writer and marketing consultant with FEE.org and has previously written for National Review, the Federalist, and other outlets.