Extremism"Redirect Method": Countering Online Extremism
In recent years, deadly white supremacist violence at houses of worship in Pittsburgh, Christchurch, and Poway demonstrated the clear line from violent hate speech and radicalization online to in-person violence. With perpetrators of violence taking inspiration from online forums, leveraging the anonymity and connectivity of the internet, and developing sophisticated strategies to spread their messages, the stakes couldn’t be higher in tackling online extremism. Researchers have developed the Redirect Method to counter white supremacist and jihadist activity online.
In recent years, deadly white supremacist violence at houses of worship in Pittsburgh, Christchurch, and Poway demonstrated the clear line from violent hate speech and radicalization online to in-person violence. With perpetrators of horrific violence taking inspiration from online forums, leveraging the anonymity and connectivity of the internet, and developing sophisticated strategies to spread their messages, the stakes couldn’t be higher in tackling online extremism.
The ADL says that this is why last year, ADL partnered with Moonshot CVE and the Gen Next Foundation to launch the Redirect Method, an initiative to counter white supremacist and jihadist activity online. The program used advertising to divert individuals who searched Google for violent extremist material toward videos and other content that exposes the falsehoods of extremist narratives and suggests non-violent content.
ADL provided subject matter expertise and unique insights to lead the project. The effort built upon best practices Moonshot CVE developed with Google for ISIS-related searches, and built on the previous deployment of the Redirect Method USA – which the RAND Corporation found showed promise.
Findings
Six months after launching the Redirect Method to counter extremism online, ADL has uncovered valuable insights into how individuals interested in white supremacist and Islamist-inspired extremism engage with online content, as well as how commercial advertising technology can be adapted to fight hate online. Here’s what we learned:
1. When using ads to combat violent propaganda online, understanding the at-risk audience is key to refining messaging and targeting effectively. Targeting content potential extremists search for – rather than focusing, for example, on what they post to social media – can focus efforts directly on harmful online behavior.
2. Music features as a top content type across those who seek white supremacist as well as violent jihadist content. Though the musical styles differ considerably, the prominence of music as an interest in both audiences lends itself well to ads that take users down different paths toward music with a non-violent message.
