Addressing extremist propaganda online has been one of the main pillars of the EU’s approach towards countering radicalization and related violence. European institutions have taken various steps to facilitate the removal of extremist propaganda. Youth is a key stakeholder to be involved in the development of viable solutions towards countering violent extremism.
The “Resilient Youth against Far-Right Extremist Messaging Online” project aims at strengthening prevention and addressing youth audiences and underlying factors contributing to far right radicalization through putting forward alternative narratives and promoting critical thinking.
“Find Another Way” is an online communication campaign, developed as the main impact tool of the YouthRightOn project. The campaign messages, objectives and target groups are based on evidence from a diagnostic study conducted in the initial phase of the project. The study, based on a national representative survey among youth 14-19 years of age and mapping of far-right online content, identified the main far-right narratives most often spread on social media, the level of resonance of these ideas among youth aged 14-19, the contributing factors as well as the characteristics and online behavior of the target group. Focus groups were then conducted to deepen our understanding of the target group and generate specific ideas of alternative messages. The campaign will run over the course of 2020 through various channels, challenging the target audiences’ perceptions and emotional connectors, facilitating discussion, provoking curiosity, encouraging awareness and dispelling misinformation and thus resulting in changes in attitude.
