Social Media narratives: addressing extremism in middle age

阴谋论、错误信息和网上极端主义是各国政府日益关注的问题。极端政治叙事在欧洲各地不断上升，这些叙事影响着主流政治话语和政策。这直接影响了人们对民主制度的看法，对科学的信任，并导致人们呼吁采取直接行动（1月6日入侵美国）来推翻或破坏民主选举的政府。中年人（45-65岁）可能既容易受到极端主义言论的影响，又可能作为决策者具有影响力。对这一群体的研究不足，但他们被极端主义内容所吸引的影响可能对政治话语、民主进程和机构产生重大影响。SMIDGE将通过社交网络分析、对极端主义言论的文本和内容分析，分析欧洲各地各种形式的极端主义言论和叙述，并将通过在6个国家（英国、意大利、比利时、丹麦、科索沃、塞浦路斯）进行调查、焦点小组和访谈，考虑国家和人口的具体情况。通过对当前最先进技术的深入研究，SMIDGE将产生旨在促进反思的反叙事、教育和培训资源，以及多层次的政策建议和循证工具，并为记者和安全专业人员提供培训。将在重点小组的共同创作活动中与利益攸关方合作创作对应内容。SMIDGE将负责任的研究和创新（RRI）理论作为其核心概念方法，以确保项目符合最高的道德和质量标准。SMIDGE的产出将提供基于证据的内容、工具和资源，直接有助于从多个角度打击极端主义言论，从而更好地了解中年人的具体情况和特点及其在网上易受极端主义影响的脆弱性。

Conspiracy theories, misinformation and extremism online is a growing concern to governments. Extreme political narratives have been rising across Europe and these narratives influence mainstream political discourses and policies. This is having a direct impact on perceptions of democratic institutions, trust in science, and leads to calls for direct action (Jan 6th incursion in USA) to overthrow or disrupt democratically elected governments. Those in middle age (45-65) may be both susceptible to extremist narratives and also influential as decision-makers. This group is under-researched, but the impact of them being drawn into extremist content may have significant consequences on political discourse, democratic processes and institutions. SMIDGE will analyse the various forms of extremist discourses and narratives across Europe through social network analysis, textual and content analysis of extremist discourse, and will consider national and demographic specifics through survey, focus groups and interviews in 6 countries (UK, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Kosovo, Cyprus). From this in-depth examination of the current state of the art, SMIDGE will produce counter-narratives, education and training resources aimed at promoting reflexivity, alongside multi-level policy recommendations and evidence-based tools and training for journalists and security professionals. The counter-content will be created through collaboration with stakeholders during co-creation exercises in the focus groups. SMIDGE takes the theory of responsible research and innovation (RRI) as its core conceptual approach to ensure that the project adheres to the highest ethical and quality standards. The outputs from SMIDGE will provide evidence based content, tools and resources that will directly help to counter extremist narratives from multiple perspectives, thereby providing greater understanding of the specificities and characteristics of those in middle-age and their vulnerability to extremism online.