institutions, increasing trust and improving relationships, and strengthening the social contract. For example, Mercy Corps’ peacebuilding work in Nigeria’s Middle Belt has increased trust and perceptions of security across farmer and pastoralist groups while including specific initiatives to support religious and traditional leaders in analyzing and leading discussions aimed at reducing the impacts of hate speech in social media.67 In another example, Search for Common Ground’s Social Cohesion Framework for Myanmar presents a range of activities to address conflict drivers, including those on social media, to build stronger communities.68 Mitigation of impacts RESPONDING TO DIGITAL DRIVERS OF VIOLENT EXTREMISM IN JORDAN Mercy Corps’ programming in Jordan sought to build resilience among youth to cyber crimes and online violent extremist recruitment by supporting youth coaches to build digital literacy among adolescents and other youth. Youth participants then led initiatives to raise awareness among their peers about internet safety in hotspot areas.65 In another program, youth civic engagement activities included youth-led workshops on propaganda and media and supported youth to create films about peace, tolerance and positive role models to mitigate impacts of online recruitment.66 Throughout this programming, mothers and fathers of adolescents and youth participated in awareness-raising sessions so they could better understand and support youth’s ability to resist negative online messaging. Mitigation occurs when weaponized information has already manifested and seeks to minimize harm, particularly during crises. Like building resilience, mitigation activities might take place offline or online — either traditional and agnostic to the technology of weaponization, or as some new form of activity made possible by new technology. Types of responses include integrating referral or warning and response components into monitoring systems described above, establishing weaponization of social media crisis and response plans, and addressing and countering prevalent online polarization and hate speech, as well as radical or violent extremist narratives, through online or offline means. Organizations have produced numerous methodologies and toolkits for mitigating the impacts of weaponized social media to guide responses by security actors and non-governmental actors.69 An example is Interaction’s Disinformation Toolkit, which among other strategies, outlines potential responses for organizations to counter online rumors and their advantages and disadvantages.70 In an example of mitigating the impact of weaponized social media on conflict-affected communities, the Dangerous Speech Project’s Nipe Uwell in Kenya project provided public information on dangerous speech 65 Programs include Youth Advancement for Peaceful and Productive Tomorrow, funded by the European Commission in 2016-2018 and its follow-on in 2018 - present funded by the US Department of State. 66 This program is Nubader: Advancing Adolescents and Youth in Jordan, funded by the Canada Global Affairs Commission from 2016 - present. 67 Mercy Corps’ tested peacebuilding work in Nigeria, the USAID-funded Engaging Communities for Peace in Nigeria program, for example, helped increase trust, perceptions of security and positive interactions between farmers and herders in conflict. https://www.mercycorps.org/research/doespeacebuilding-work-midst-conflict This program complements Mercy Corps and others’ programs that seek to build trust while also supporting communities to understand and address growing concerns around online hate speech in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. 68 Social Cohesion Framework: Social Cohesion for Stronger Communities. Search for Common Ground. https://www.sfcg.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/02/SC2_Framework-copy.pdf 69 Examples include Build Up’s The Commons: A Pilot Methodology for Addressing Polarization Online: https://howtobuildup.org/wpcontent/uploads/2016/04/The-Commons-A-pilot-methodology-for-addressing-polarization-online-2-27-18.pdf; the Social Media Hate Speech Mitigation Field Guide from #defyhatenow: https://openculture.agency/launching-the-social-media-hate-speech-mitigation-field-guide/; and the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme’s How-to Guide: Mitigating Dangerous Speech: http://www.nsrp-nigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSRP-How-to-GuideMitigating-Hate-and-Dangerous-Speech.pdf. 70 Oh, Sarah, and Travis L. Adkins. 2018. “Disinformation Toolkit.” Interaction. https://www.interaction.org/documents/disinformation-toolkit/ MERCY CORPS The Weaponization of Social Media: How social media can spark violence and what can be done about it 22