Dialing down hatred: an online pilot project to test counter-narrative effectiveness among far-right-sympathetic audiences in the UK

Over the past decade, counter-narratives have often been sourced as an answer to extremist ideologies. Used mainly at the “upstream” phase of radicalization, the use of counter-narratives in communications campaigns by governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and civil-society actors has come to the fore as a key intervention within the Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) professions. Despite this renewed challenge and imperative from far-right extremist organizations, there is a dearth of empirical data on what works and what does not in counter-narrative campaigns specific to the far right. This chapter aims to provide a useful counterpoint to these prevailing tendencies. Taking the UK as a case study, it lays out how an iterative, experimental research methodology—mixing focus groups and surveys—can be used to test counter-narrative content and, most importantly, evaluate impactful attitudinal change among far-right-sympathetic audiences.