Combatting Online Hate in Schools

5/17/2023

Tihmily Li, Communications Officer

In a digital age, there’s a need to recognize how hate is perpetuated online and how to combat it. On Tuesday, May 16, we welcomed the expertise and knowledge of Emily Thompson, Associate Director of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC)’s Research Department, for a virtual community session. Emily’s presentation focused on recognizing dog whistles, grasping the vulnerabilities of teens in online spaces and understanding how to combat online hate. This session was primarily geared towards an adult audience as Greenwood students previously had a session with FSWC on online hate.

In the session, participants:

Were sensitized to the state of online hate through the Wiesenthal Center's searchable database
Discussed some of the challenges young people face on popular digital platforms
Learned about some of the common symbols and codes used by extremists online
Looked at the ways in which anti-Asian, anti-Black and antisemitic content has been spread online recently

Emily Thompson has a Bachelor's and a Master's degrees in History, with a focus on Holocaust denial. Her research focuses on Digital Terrorism and Hate, exploring how extremists utilize the internet and social media to spread hateful and harmful content and ideologies. She is the program director for Combat Hate, an interactive student workshop designed to introduce media literacy skills and provide tools for young people to deal with hate online.

Community members received a few additional resources from the virtual session. Please find below the additional resources from the session on May 16.

Additional Resources

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Emily Thompson, Associate Director of FSWC's Research Department, shared her insights on identifying and combatting online hate.

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