{"id":39402,"date":"2025-05-06T14:37:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T12:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/?p=39402"},"modified":"2025-05-06T14:37:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T12:37:56","slug":"antianti-empowering-young-people-to-resist-online-extremism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/uncategorised\/antianti-empowering-young-people-to-resist-online-extremism\/","title":{"rendered":"AntiAnti: Empowering young people to resist online extremism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Katrin H\u00fcnem\u00f6rder<\/strong>, Executive Director, mediale pfade, Germany <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally a wake-up call: In Germany\u2019s 2024 elections, the far-right AfD gained alarming support from first-time voters. Researchers traced this shift partly to social media platforms like TikTok, where undemocratic and polarising content circulates in subtle and viral formats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The 2024 election proves the strong influence that Social Media platforms,with frontrunner TikTok have on shaping political opinions particularly of young people, who spend significant time on the platform to receive information about political content. Extremist actors have long realised the potential that Social Media offers to spread polarising content of group-related misanthropy especially in short video formats. The need for preventative, empowering media education has become clearer than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At mediale pfade, we launched AntiAnti already in 2018 to support young people in
navigating these digital realities. Our mission: to prevent online radicalisation and strengthen democratic resilience by combining political and media education. We work with youth aged 14\u201321 in schools and youth centres across Berlin and Brandenburg, offering free workshops that speak their language \u2013 literally and digitally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sets AntiAnti apart is its approach. We meet young people where they are: online, on
TikTok, YouTube or WhatsApp, in the middle of influencer trends, algorithm-driven content, and viral memes. Our workshops explore how extremist actors manipulate emotions, reframe crises, and embed ideological messages into everyday content \u2013 often unnoticed. The goal isn\u2019t to tell young people what to think, but to encourage them to ask: who is talking here, and why?
In our workshop and professional development formats we discuss how phenomena like right wing extremism, antisemitism, antifeminism, islamism and conspiracy narratives are conveyed online and often packaged as lifestyle content. Our goal is to enable young people to critically reflect and decode content they are consuming on social media, develop own value-based positions and empower them to develop options for actions online.<\/p>\n\n\n