This Toolkit has been created on the basis of the key findings obtained in the framework of the Search for Common Ground (Search) “Social Media for De-Radicalization in Kyrgyzstan: A Model for Central Asia’s” pilot project funded by the Bureau of Counterterrorism, US Department of State. The project is based on two parts: a participatory approach, focused on UN Resolution 2250, and a professional approach aimed at creating and conducting social media campaigns in Kyrgyzstan.
Extremist and terrorist groups use the Internet to radicalize and recruit young people through social media and instant messaging applications. Therefore, it is important to create new methods to combat online extremist propaganda, focusing not only on measures such as blocking and filtering content, or counter-narratives which are very popular and come naturally in response to radicalization and violent extremism, but also offering a positive alternative to extremist propaganda, while challenging their ideology and messages.