Free Radicals Project: An Online Hate Counter-Narrative
The internet search bar is today’s ultimate confessional. Unfiltered, people turn to the internet to search for everything… even those things they’re ashamed to say out loud. Violence-based extremist groups use these searches to identify potential new members and lure them into rabbit holes of propaganda, conspiracies, and fake news sites – ultimately recruiting them. FACT: American white nationalist movements have seen their followers grow by more than 600% since 2012. Today, they outperform ISIS in nearly every social metric, from follower counts to tweets per day.
Search Responsibly, a collaboration between multicultural advertising agency ALMA and the Free Radicals Project, led by reformed white power leader Christian Picciolini, leverages the same technology to recognize at-risk individuals and lure them to WeAreFreeRadicals.net.
“When ALMA approached me with this idea, I knew it was a compelling strategy immediately,” explains Picciolini. “The same tactics that once engaged me on the streets are still being used on the internet – and they’re even more effective online. This project helped us target individuals who might be at the early stages of extremist radicalization and have an honest conversation about how hate groups deceive and recruit, and how searches like their have led to horrific humanitarian crises.”
Under Christian’s guidance, ALMA’s digital team identified keywords and created ads that would appeal to at-risk individuals leading them to WeAreFreeRadicals.net, which is designed to slowly introduce facts to the user to sway them in a positive direction. Visitors were also retargeted on social media once they had been to the site.
“As a multicultural advertising agency, we are sensitive to the tensions in today’s climate,” says Michael Sotelo, VP of Digital Integrated Solutions at ALMA. “This project was a way to use our expertise and capabilities for good – for channeling the most hateful searches and driving them to a positive and reformative cause like Christian’s Free Radicals Project.”
The Search Responsibly project has been active since March 21, 2018, and so far has seen an 170% increase in site traffic, and over 262K in impressions and reach. Picciolini and Free Radicals continue the mission to aid individuals in exiting hateful and violence-based radicalization. To learn more about the organization, visit FreeRadicals.org.
About Alma
Alma, a leading multicultural advertising agency founded in 1994, has an unorthodox creative culture, anchored on the pillars of curiosity, collaboration and accountability. Clients such as McDonald’s, Sprint, State Farm, Tobacco Free Florida, The Clorox Company, Netflix, and others chose Alma for its creative excellence and expertise in multicultural marketing. Alma was the 2017 Multicultural Agency of the Year on Ad Age’s prestigious A-List, making it the sixth time since 2010. Alma’s team hails from 28 different nationalities, and together they have won 21 Cannes Lions as well as Effie, ANA, One Show, Clio, and New York Festival awards. Alma has earned “Agency of the Year” titles from FIAP, El Sol, El Ojo and USH Ideas… all while sipping cafecito from their offices in Miami, San Francisco, Tallahassee, and Chicago.
About Free Radicals Project
The Free Radicals Project is a global disengagement platform that aids individuals, and their families or communities, in exiting hateful and violence-based "radicalization" through non-aggressive, community-led methods of individual resiliency-building, reconnection, cross-cultural immersion, and making amends. Founded by reformed neo-Nazi skinhead and prominent counter-radicalization expert, Christian Picciolini, he and his team of "Free Radicals" have decades of personal and professional experience dealing with issues involving "radicalization" and all forms of violence-based extremism, both working with, and amongst, radicalized individuals. The team have been involved in over 100 "off-rampings" of individuals tied to violence-based ideologies, as well as former ISIS members. Working with highly-skilled professionals in the fields of mental health, academia, research, "Formers" (former "radicals"), life coaches, therapists, faith leaders, community members, educators, nonprofits and NGOs around the globe, the multidisciplinary FREE RADICALS team are equipped to assess, consult, and assist in most cases involving bias-based radicalization, extremism, and/or violence, including those looking to disengage from those environments.
For more info, contact:
Tatiana Seijas
Phone: 305-662-3151
[email protected]
Christian Picciolini
Phone: 312-572-9707
[email protected]