Civic Resilience Course

Debunk.org is an independent technology think tank and an NGO that analyses disinformation and runs educational media literacy campaigns.

Debunk.org provides disinformation analyses in the Baltic countries, Poland, Montenegro, and Georgia, as well as in the United States and North Macedonia together with our partners.

More about our activities here

Type of Organisation: NGO

‘Radicalisation’ is used interchangeably with ‘indoctrination’. Essentially, it means creating self-motivation among people to do certain things, and the events of recent years have shown that the line between silent beliefs and violent action can be very thin.

As early as May 2019, an FBI assessment warned that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was likely to intensify the domestic terrorist threat from conspiracy-motivated extremists, including QAnon believers. The warnings became true on 6 January 2021, when the world was shocked by pictures of a right-wing mob storming the U.S. Capitol. Justice Department prosecutors have brought criminal charges against more than 130 people with apparent ties to extremist groups, including more than three dozen who appear to have expressed support for QAnon.

As an organisation, we do not need to look as far to see the effect conspiracy theories have on radicalising people. On 10 August 2021, a rally against COVID-19 restrictions next to the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas) turned into a violent riot. The most active actors are known supporters and spreaders of conspiracy theories, and as uncovered by LRT investigation, many of them have ties with the Russian government. Our joint investigation with LRT only proved this further.

Authoritarian regimes employ information operations as a form of radicalisation. From direct sponsorships to far-right politicians in Europe to using networks of bots and websites to spread conspiracy theories, extremist messaging is used to sow division, and regimes such as the Kremlin exploit weaknesses of Western societies.

With the Civic Resilience Course, we aim to teach students to be alert while browsing online, provide them with basic skills of source assessment and lateral reading, and offer knowledge about how social media algorithms work (since it is known that the biggest platforms are perfectly aware of the damage they can cause). We believe that to curb the effects of radicalisation and malign foreign influence, improvement of critical thinking and media literacy levels among citizens is crucial alongside the important intelligence work and creating effective policies.

Civic Resilience Course: https://www.debunkeu.org/civic-resilience-course

The course launched in English in October 2021: https://www.bitdegree.org/course/civic-resilience-course-for-students

The course has been translated and adapted to Montenegrin and Lithuanian.

Address

Sturmanu g. 4,
Klaipeda, Lithuania

Contact person: Viktoras Dauksas
Telephone: +370 (615)57007
viktorasdebunkeu [dot] org (Email) | Website