Problem

Problem

People in Australia and across Asia Pacific are increasingly exposed to hateful rhetoric, extreme ideologies and targeted negative speech online. Influential individuals and groups aim to divide people into distinct groups based on their social, political or religious views -- groups that have a hard time understanding or showing empathy for each other. Young people have a powerful role to play in bringing people with diverse opinions together, and helping to stop the hate speech and extremism that occurs when societies are divided and when people are intolerant to difference.
Approach

Approach

Digital Industry Group Inc (DIGI) is a non profit advocacy body representing Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Twitter. One of DIGI’s core missions is to help people connect in meaningful ways, and work with government and the community to promote the internet as a safe and respectful place. In March 2018, Love Frankie teamed up with DIGI and the Australian Government’s Ministry of Home Affairs to hold a regional youth summit called ‘DIGI Engage’ bringing together youth leaders from across the ASEAN region for an inspiring day of learning and connecting on key issues. As the lead event design and execution agency, Love Frankie provided key inputs on the design and delivery of the high profile youth summit including session planning, identification of speakers, panellists and performers, identifying and selecting youth participants from 8 ASEAN countries to attend, and developing key materials and resources for use during and after the event with key information and tips on how to counter extremism and hate speech online. Love Frankie acted as key liaison between the DIGI group members including Facebook, Google and Twitter, the Australian Government, youth networks and CVE issue mentors and expert practitioners.
Impact

Impact

Over 150 youth from Australia and from around ASEAN formed a powerful community of change makers that have continued to engage with each other through online and offline programs in the subsequent 12 months. The event developed young people’s resilience to online hate speech and empowered them with the knowledge and tools of how to responsibly and effectively respond to and engage with divisive narratives online.
Services
Formative Research, Event design, planning and execution, monitoring and evaluation