Seminar Abstract

This presentation will give an overview of the work being carried out by the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) in line with its mission to prevent terrorists and violent extremists from exploiting digital platforms. Dr Saltman and Dr El Karhili will also discuss how counterterrorism efforts online have had to evolve with adversarial threats, such as the need to diversify what signals can be shared between platforms and how “content” is understood to include trends around live streaming, URL sharing, and attacker manifestos. The discussion will involve a review of where further collaboration between government, technology companies, and global experts is needed.

About the Speakers

Dr Erin Saltman is the Interim Executive Director and Director of Programming at GIFCT. She has worked in the technology, NGO, and academic sectors building out counterterrorism strategies and programs internationally. Dr Saltman’s background and expertise include both white supremacy and Islamist extremist processes of radicalization within a range of regional and socio-political contexts. Her research and publications have focused on the evolving nature of violent extremism online, youth radicalization, and the evaluation of counterspeech approaches. She was formerly Meta’s Head of Counterterrorism and Dangerous Organizations Policy across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She also spent time as a practitioner working for ISD Global and other CT/CVE NGOs before joining GIFCT. Dr Saltman is a graduate of Columbia University (BA) and University College London (MA and PhD).

Dr Nagham El Karhili is the Programs and Partnerships Lead at the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT). She was previously the Program and Research Manager at the Horizon Forum. In this capacity, she developed and coordinated the research and programming agenda at the start-up think-do tank focused on hate funding in philanthropy. Prior to that, she was a Presidential Fellow at Georgia State University’s Transcultural Conflict and Violence Initiative, where her research focused on projects at the intersection of violent extremism, organizational religious identity, and civil society. As a scholar of Communication, Dr El Karhili authored multiple research articles published in academic peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Media and Religion, Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, and Media, War, & Conflict, along with sector policy reports. Her academic background also led her to hold teaching positions at Georgia State University and Indiana University Perdue University. Dr. El Karhili is a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (BS; MS), and Georgia State University (PhD).