The advent of new communication technologies and their ubiquity has many benefits for information sharing at a global level. However, these new technologies have also created new challenges which our societies are now faced with: the spread of disinformation, manipulation and online hate. This report assesses the Sens Critique pilot programme which took place in Paris last year.
A combination of social media analysis, network mapping and investigative reporting carried out by ISD’s Digital Research Unit found that far-right conspiracy and misinformation networks used a suite of new and existing platforms to mobilise and coordinate election-related activities online and offline in the lead up to the Bavarian State elections in Germany in 2018.
This report presents the findings of a project that investigated foreign attempts to influence the 2018 Swedish elections online.
This report presents the findings from our Young Digital Leaders project which was designed to equip young people aged between 13-16 years old in Italy, Romania and Sweden with the skills they need to be safe, powerful and effective online citizens in the 21st century
Hate Speech and Radicalisation in the Network, published by the Online Civil Courage Initiative (OCCI), a programme of ISD and Facebook, brings together a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives to explore the prevalence of hate speech on social media, the strategies and tactics of Islamist and far-right extremist groups online, the potential impact of disinformation on political polarisation and radicalisation, and how government, the private sector and civil society can respond to these challenges.
This joint report by ISD and German campaign group, ‘Ich Bin Hier’, maps the rise and nature of far-right hate speech in Germany. It combines quantitative data-analysis from Facebook comment sections with insights gained from ethnographic research in far-right chat groups.
'Loving Hate: anti-Muslim extremism, Islamism and the Spiral of Polarization' looks at reciprocal radicalisation between Islamists and far-right extremists and was published by ISD in cooperation with the Institute for Democracy and Civil Society in Jena.
This report calls on data from the largest collection of interviews with foreign fighters and those closest to them. It combines data from open-ended interviews with 43 parents, siblings, and friends of 30 men and women who travelled to Syria and Iraq.
This report presents the findings from our Digital Resilience pilot, which suggest that digital citizenship educational approaches can be an effective tool for increasing the resilience of young people to extremist grooming and exploitation online.
This briefing paper documents attempts by Italian extreme-right activists to influence the recent Italian elections in their favour. It highlights how these activists are adopting an increasingly international perspective, influencing and being influenced by the international alt-right, and adopting tactics similar to those deployed in recent European elections, including the German election.
