ISD (Institute for Strategic Dialogue)

Do women pay a higher “cost of doing politics”? ISD research on gendered harassment on TikTok during the 2024 EU Parliament Elections ⬇️   Harassment and abuse — both on- and offline — are often dismissed as “the cost of doing politics.” Yet, misogynistic online discourse has a chilling effect on women’s political participation across the globe. Among 296 leading EU Parliamentary candidates in France, Germany and Hungary, ISD identified 102 TikTok users (45 women and 57 men) and analysed a random sample of 9K comments from almost 327K made under their posts. Our analysis of the comments under the candidates’ videos in the weeks leading up to the 2024 elections found that:  🔹 Women candidates received over 80% more harmful comments than male candidates  🔹 Over 16% of all comments were derogatory or discriminatory, reinforcing racist, sexist and misogynistic stereotypes  🔹 Women candidates were disproportionally objectified and harassed based on their appearance, age, ability and their gender expression and identity, including deploying gendered double standards and deliberate misgendering  🔹 In Hungary and France, 15% of harmful comments on male candidates’ channels were directed at women candidates, as opposed to less than 3% of harmful comments directed at male candidates under female channel owners    While TikTok is an important space for political expression, gendered abuse online forces women candidates to expend additional resources to safeguard their well-being — sometimes leading to self-censorship and limiting their political participation.    This is the 5th report in our series on online gender-based violence, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, and highlights the urgent need for TikTok to implement stronger, gender-sensitive protections.    Read the full report here. https://lnkd.in/d46CP3fj

Online antisemitism has impacted public participation & mental health long before Oct 7. This paper outlines key challenges, including the normalisation of mainstream antisemitism, & steps to fight it, based on interviews across Europe. Read below in English, Italian, French, Swedish, German & Polish 🚨 https://lnkd.in/dNAW2YzY

Translations now available in Italian, French, Swedish, German and Polish   Jewish communities in Europe have been facing growing online antisemitism, with significant impacts on public participation and mental health, long before the October 7 attacks.  In January, ISD’s Coalition to Combat Online Antisemitism (CCOA) released a policy paper outlining the key challenges of online antisemitism and providing comprehensive, actionable steps for governments, tech platforms, regulators and civil society to combat online hate. Built from 42 interviews across France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden, this paper presents a unified pan-European strategy to address online antisemitism and calls for stronger platform accountability, legal tools and digital rights protections.  ISD is excited to announce the Executive Summary of this report is now available in Italian, French, Swedish, German and Polish.  Read it below.  https://lnkd.in/dNAW2YzY

Deadline tomorrow! ⬇️ ISD Jordan is hiring a Senior Digital Analyst to lead research on online hate speech in Jordan. The role includes methodology development, stakeholder training, dashboard oversight & reporting. Based in Jordan + remote working available. Details below! https://lnkd.in/dwhtd8r3

📢 Today, the DSA Civil Society Coordination Group, of which ISD is a proud member, released its brief: Initial Analysis on the First Round of Risk Assessment Reports under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA).    The purpose of this feedback is to identify key trends, useful practices and gaps in this first round of risk assessments, so that future iterations of these reports are more tangible and do more to advance user safety. Center for Democracy & Technology You can read the full brief below ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/gkkQSpdi

ISD’s Milo Comerford was recently featured in “The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram,” an investigation led by ProPublica and FRONTLINE. The Terrorgram Collective is a global white supremacist organization based entirely online. Read more here. https://lnkd.in/dU_b9bSH Milo will also be featured in the accompanying FRONTLINE documentary based on the investigation. The full documentary premieres March 25 at 10 p.m. EDT on PBS and will be available to stream on YouTube and the FRONTLINE website.

ISD's Sina Laubenstein Medina joined experts at the Mobile World Congress – Europe’s largest mobile tech trade fair – for a panel with Deutsche Telekom. She explained why addressing disinformation does not undermine free expression, the role of critical thinking and the need for measures like the DSA. Watch the full video below ⬇️ #MWC2025 https://lnkd.in/dhtg8h5r

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"His ideology is neither new, mixed nor confusing." Jakob Guhl examines the far-right ideology behind the Magdeburg attack in his op-ed for Prospect Magazine. His research reveals the suspect's years of involvement in anti-Muslim, far-right online communities, a connection authorities struggled to make. https://lnkd.in/dZfn3xDu

Cody Zoschak spoke to The Guardian about rising violence among non-ideologically motivated teens and their ties to forums that glorify mass killers. "The violence is emotional & self-serving rather than political or ideological, & there’s really no desired consequence – the violence is the point." https://ow.ly/QgQl50VgUyi