ISD (Institute for Strategic Dialogue)

We are proud to announce that the Institute for Strategic Dialogue-US (ISD-US) and the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD) will merge under the ISD-US banner on January 1, 2026. This consolidation unites two leading organizations that have long committed to countering digital authoritarianism, foreign interference, and hybrid threats to national security and democracy. “Consolidating the immense expertise, skills, and technological capabilities of ASD and ISD’s information operations team, represents a unique opportunity to strengthen our defenses against foreign interference and authoritarianism,” said Sasha Havlicek, President and CEO of ISD. The two organizations have already built a strong legacy of partnership by co-developing an innovative tool mapping Russian state propaganda networks, publishing joint analyses of coordinated disinformation campaigns with links to the Chinese government, and tracking how RT (Russian state-funded media outlet) continues to evade media restrictions in Europe. Both organizations have an extensive track record of countering Russian, Chinese and Iranian state-sponsored information and cyber operations, and tracking the intersection of state and non-state actor hybrid threats. With the merger, ISD-US and ASD will leverage their technical and policy capabilities to produce field-leading threat detection and monitoring, as well as in-depth research and analysis of the multidimensional threat ecosystem. To learn more about ISD-US and ASD merging and their work, click the link below. https://lnkd.in/d2Z-dPyB

ISD and Movember—a leading global men’s health organisation—have joined forces to examine how online misogyny fuels violence against women and girls while also impacting men and boys’ wellbeing. Together, we will be exploring issues and policy responses to the overlapping challenges of online misogyny, digital safety and men and boys’ health. Through a series of articles, we will provide deep dives on the role of public health, education and digital policy approaches in tackling online harms impacting men and boys. The first article challenges the way online misogyny and gender-based violence are often seen as separate from men and boys’ health. It highlights how harmful gender norms and digital environments impact not only women and girls, but all genders. In the Dispatch, we call for a public-health and society-wide approach—one that engages men and boys early and often, treating them as partners in prevention, not just as potential perpetrators. This partnership is part of the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence, during which ISD is spotlighting the interconnected drivers of online misogyny and gender-based harm. You can read the article here. https://lnkd.in/dQ--cEva

Want to intern with ISD UK? We are now accepting applications for 6-month paid internships across our Digital Policy, Hate and Extremism teams. Interns will support research, policy analysis and programme delivery. Interested? Apply before 17 Dec! 🔎 https://lnkd.in/eX9zd3KC

Deadline closing soon 📣 ISD-US is looking for a Senior Research Manager to lead digital research on online hate and extremism, with a focus on antisemitism. The role oversees mixed-methods analysis and turns findings into clear insights and policy recommendations.

Apply before 5 Dec! Info below. 
https://lnkd.in/eiX49nzV

As part of the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence, ISD is highlighting the urgent need to address deepfake and nudification apps.     ISD recently published an article exposing how easily these apps, which allow users to create fake intimate images, can be found through search engines and mainstream platforms.   The consequences for those targeted, disproportionately women and girls, are severe and include psychological trauma, reputational and social harm, financial impacts, and heightened risks of physical danger.    This month, we will be expanding this work with new research examining the full lifecycle of harm caused by these tools. We also analyse the broader societal impact: how this phenomenon distorts our information environment, fuels disinformation, and undermines democratic norms by silencing and intimidating women and marginalised groups online.     The research highlights the need for system-wide responsibility—from the apps themselves, to search engines directing users to these tools, to the mainstream platforms promoting them— and outlines policy implications for addressing this spectrum of harm.     Our investigation 'The ecosystem of nonconsensual intimate deepfake tools online' is available below. Make sure to check back for more during the 16 Days of Activism.     https://lnkd.in/dDe5WgYF  

ISD CEO Sasha Havlicek was honoured to join ISD UK board member and founder of the WeProtect Global Alliance Baroness Joanna Shields OBE and other experts in a papal audience with Pope Leo XIV earlier in November where he spoke powerfully about the need to protect minors in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). The Pope was addressing participants of the High-Level Meeting on Child Dignity and Artificial Intelligence hosted by the Vatican and organised by the Fondazione Child ETS and the Child Dignity Alliance. The event brought together world technology leaders and experts to examine the mounting risks AI poses to young people's safety and wellbeing. In her panel intervention detailing urgent measures needed to stem the tide of harms, Sasha pointed to ISD’s research evidencing the many ways in which malign actors—child predators, unscrupulous commercial interests, authoritarian states, hate and extremist groups—have exploited the online ecosystem and increasingly generative AI to advance their goals with dangerous effect. She noted that some of the most potentially harmful features and content are too often served up to the most vulnerable users—including teens and children—despite policies to prevent this. Pope Leo XIV underlined the urgency in his own address: “Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to manipulation through AI algorithms that can influence their decisions and preferences. It is essential that parents and educators be aware of these dynamics, and that tools be developed to monitor and guide young people’s interactions with technology”. ISD will build on the momentum from this important convening and on work it has already done on information integrity, through a major line of AI research focused on AI companion chat bots (and the particular risks to children) as well AI harms writ large, alongside its established digital literacy programmes and policy advisory work. See coverage of some of our recent research on the threats posed by AI here. https://lnkd.in/ejy3fg6k For ISD’s Dispatch on synthetic intimate image abuse (SIIA) and the online ecosystem enabling non-consensual deepfake creation, increasingly affecting minors, click here. https://lnkd.in/dDe5WgYF Further details on the event are available on our website. https://lnkd.in/dXgDAghq

Online hate shaped the unrest in the Southern Syrian city of Suweyda. ISD’s new analysis shows how misleading content and anti-Druze rhetoric—over 34K posts btwn March and Sept 2025—spiked with conflict, linking online discourse to offline violence. Read the report below. https://lnkd.in/dwG8R6xp

Nihilistic violence includes violent acts lacking a unifying ideology or political goal, which are often driven by misanthropy and/or a desire to gain notoriety in online communities. In 2024 alone, at least four school shootings, five disrupted school-shooting plots, and two stabbing sprees have been linked to two of the most prominent subcultures associated with nihilistic violence. These groups revere school shooters regardless of their motives, replicating their most distinctive characteristics and, in some cases, targeting similar victims. They overlap in online spaces and interact with other subcultures, leading to the exchange of symbols, terminology, and memes—all without ideological coherence or political goals. Their constantly evolving nature makes it difficult to understand these networks and prevent violence. ISD has analysed how seemingly disconnected acts of violence have been linked to online communities centred around nihilistic worldviews, and whether this requires a dedicated prevention system or an expansion of existing counterterrorism approaches. In the past year, we have also launched a resource offering practical information and actionable advice to help families and communities respond to 764, a network that has become a growing threat targeting vulnerable communities, including minors. Read our latest investigations and explore more of our related work and resources at the links below: • Memetic violence: How the True Crime Community generates its own killers https://lnkd.in/dbWkPvjq • Terror without ideology? The rise of nihilistic violence – An ISD Investigation https://lnkd.in/dBJe8XWt • Online radicalization and the nexus to violence in the US: 2024 year in review https://lnkd.in/d5ip92jG • 764 https://lnkd.in/dmXeXaVU • Networks of Harm: A Victim-Centric Information Resource on the 764 Sextortion Network https://lnkd.in/dYmH7gQr

Online hate didn’t just mirror the violence in the Southern Syrian city of Suweyda —it helped fuel it. ISD’s new report analysis reveals how online hate and misleading content fuelled violence during the unrest in Suweyda earlier this year, as well as the role of external actors in shaping online narratives. ISD researchers found that between March and September 2025, over 34,000 posts containing anti-Druze rhetoric circulated on X. The Druze—an Arabic-speaking ethnoreligious minority in southern Syria—were targeted whenever conflict escalated, with spikes aligning with armed clashes, Israeli strikes and key political developments. These patterns highlight the connection between online discourse and offline violence. As Syria navigates the post-war transition, strengthening resilience against sectarian hate and digital manipulation is fundamental to preventing further atrocities. This report is available in English and Arabic. https://lnkd.in/dwG8R6xp

Today marks the start of the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence, an annual campaign running from 25 Nov to 10 Dec At ISD, we tackle gender-based harm in all its forms—supporting communities and strengthening our democracies. Gender-based harm affects far more than those directly targeted; it also restricts participation in society, distorts public debate and undermines the democratic process. Across ISD, our teams are expanding work on gendered harms, from foreign information operations and hate and extremism to nonconsensual intimate deepfake tools. Over the next 16 days, we’ll be highlighting our research, partnerships and projects that shed light on the evolving threat of gender-based harm and the work ISD is doing to counter it. Make sure to check back and follow along.