The project “New Media Literacy Strategies to Counter Antisemitism” aims to empower relevant actors from various sectors, particularly at the local level, to develop and implement effective strategies against hate speech, discrimination, misinformation, and disinformation targeting communities. Building on the successful EU-funded project, coordinated by FIDU, “Media Literacy for Democracy (MLFD)“, which emphasized the critical role of media literacy and the importance of cross-sectoral cooperation and a multidisciplinary approach, the project intends to implement a new set of activities, which include analysis, raising awareness, and advocacy, with the aim of enhancing efforts to combat these harmful phenomena. This initiative seeks to foster cross-sectoral cooperation and generate innovative media literacy strategies that address the evolving challenges of online antisemitism, while aligning with EU priorities.
The initiative is funded through the Coalition to Counter Online Antisemitism (CCOA), via the Google.org Foundation. Antisemitism violates fundamental rights, especially the right to human dignity, the right to equality of treatment and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Antisemitism is no longer confined to extremist movements but has become deeply rooted in mainstream society, where it is increasingly normalized. ISD’s analysis shows a significant rise in online antisemitism, with French content increasing seven-fold and German content over 13-fold between 2020 and 2021. Given the link between online activity and offline incidents, a holistic approach is essential to address this growing threat. Despite fragmented efforts by a small group of stakeholders, there is an urgent need for coordinated action and information sharing. The CCOA pilot project seeks to address these gaps by bringing together CSOs, governments, platforms, and private sectors to build a holistic, whole-of-society approach to combating antisemitism online, fostering collaboration across five key countries: Germany, France, Italy, Poland, and Sweden.