Challenging Extremist Views on Social Media: Developing a Counter-Messaging Response by Jan Jaap van Eerten & Bertjan Doosje

Author:Jan Jaap van Eerten & Bertjan Doosje [Eerten, Jan Jaap van & Doosje, Bertjan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Psychology, Social Psychology, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781000058703
Google: VUmjDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 44599679
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-07-23T00:00:00+00:00

4.5.2 Risk and challenges

Several risks and challenges related to counter-messaging campaign have already been proposed. However, there are several others that deserve consideration, and should be factored in when developing and implementing a social media effort. Below we will provide an outline of different risks and challenges.

In general, those undertaking a campaign should be wary of potential unintended harmful side-effects. Messages intended for specific audiences often end up being viewed by other audiences as well (Atkin, 2004; Egner, 2009; Fink & Barclay, 2013), and there is limited control over how messages are interpreted (Atkin, 2004). Messages that may be effective with a specific intended audience, may be ineffective or even counter-productive with another (Egner, 2009; Freeman et al., 2015; Fink & Barclay, 2013). For instance, as suggested earlier, counter-narrative messages aimed at dissuading people from supporting Salafi-Jihadi groups may cause alienation or be perceived as offensive when they reach people that are not at-risk of falling in the orbit of these groups (Berger, 2016; Reynolds & Tuck, 2016), or may in fact trigger curiosity towards extremist groups and the views they espouse (Berger, 2016).

In addition, when choosing social media for a counter-narrative campaign, the risk of losing control over the message should be considered. As has been noted by Heldman et al. (2013, p. 10), in the context of campaigns that leverage social media, “concerns about negative comments, misdirecting and reshaping the message and conversation or ‘online incivility’ are valid.” The authors point out that it is important that these concerns are considered at the outset of a program, and are factored into the social media engagement strategy. As we suggested earlier, this point may be particularly important for counter-messaging campaigns, which could well evoke negative responses (e.g., hate speech; see Ernst et al., 2017). In fact, it may even be the case that entire counter-narrative campaigns are turned around and used by the adversary in a counter campaign (Briggs & Frenett, 2014).

Anne Aly (interview, February 25, 2016) argues that this is exactly what happened to the ‘Say No To Terror’ (see Box 2.1) and the ‘Think Again, Turn Away’ (see Box 4.9) campaigns:

The counter campaign became Say Yes to Jihad. And in fact, the counter campaign messages, and the counter campaign videos outnumber the Say No to Terror videos. That’s the first risk, that there’ll be a counter campaign. The Think Again, Turn Away had counter campaigns within half a day.

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