GIFCT Working Groups were launched in 2020 to facilitate multistakeholder dialogue, foster understanding, and produce outputs to directly support the GIFCT mission of preventing terrorists and violent extremists from exploiting digital platforms. Each year, the Working Groups deliver guidance and solutions to industry, government, and experts. Annual themes selected reflect trends in the terrorist threat landscape and the needs and priorities of the tech sector, and inform GIFCT programming and activities.
The GIFCT 2024 Working Groups brought together a wide range of participants from 32 countries across 6 continents, representing a range of sectors including tech companies, civil society practitioners, advocacy representatives, law enforcement, and government. Groups focussed on three critical themes and worked with GIFCT to create tangible outputs and guidance to evolve our organization’s critical tools and processes.
Hash Sharing Working Group: As technologies, content, and types of violent extremist and terrorist groups change, GIFCT continuously reviews its definitions and parameters to evolve in line with trends and member needs. This group reviewed GIFCT’s Hash-Sharing Database inclusion criteria and proposed enhancements to improve its transparency and accuracy. The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) worked with GIFCT to produce a set of concrete recommendations for Enhancing Transparency and Accuracy in GIFCT’s Hash-Sharing Database. GIFCT will be implementing recommendations throughout 2025 to ensure the database remains effective and impactful in cross-platform counterterrorism efforts.
Incident Response Working Group: GIFCT conducted a robust multistakeholder review of its Incident Response Framework (IRF) to better reflect the needs and feedback of key stakeholders and draw on lessons learned from prior activations. Widespread concerns about the potential rise in AI generated content around terrorist attacks, and the increasing prevalence of violence associated with accelerationist movements or self-mobilized radicalization informed discussions aimed at updating the IRF. Working with the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism (CTEC) GIFCT undertook a comprehensive review and expert dialogue series which resulted in the report Future-Proofing GIFCT’s Incident Response: Addressing Societal Harms, and will inform GIFCT work in updating the IRF in 2025.
Gaming Community of Practice: The Gaming Community of Practice (GCoP) was formed to foster collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovation among practitioners in the gaming industry alongside global experts. The group aimed to inform the development of best practices and guidance to prevent terrorists and violent extremists (TVE) from exploiting games, gaming-adjacent services, and the gaming community. Leading members of the Extremism and Gaming Research Network (EGRN) produced a series of outputs based on Working Group meetings to guide online gaming companies in better awareness of TVE threats and how to counter them. Galen Lamphere-Englund worked with GIFCT to produce a report on Prevent, Detect, and React: A Framework for Countering Violent Extremism on Gaming Surfaces as well as an annotated 2024 Resource List: Violent Extremism, Radicalization, and Gaming. Rachel Kowert and Sarah Chittick produced a brief guide for companies on Threat Surfaces in Games: Challenges and Best Practices. The group’s gaming platforms also explored how best expanded threat signal sharing could evolve, which will take form further as GIFCT’s Investigator’s Community of Practice in 2025.
GIFCT was pleased to host a virtual gathering to highlight the impacts and outcomes of the 2024 Working Groups, further connecting experts, practitioners and the tech sector. The webinar focused on some key findings and recommendations, and helped ensure that GIFCT’s work and tools continue to reflect the evolving threat environment, member needs, and global lessons learned.
GIFCT Launches 2025 Working Groups
GIFCT 2025 Working Groups themes will focus on issues that have been highlighted by key stakeholders and members in light of evolving global trends and challenges. GIFCT invites international experts from across different sectors to apply. 2025 Working Group themes are focusing on: (1) Investigators Community of Practice, (2) Artificial Intelligence: Threats and Opportunities, and (3) Addressing Youth Radicalization and Mobilization.
2025 Working Groups ApplicationInvestigators Community of Practice: GIFCT is launching the Investigators Community of Practice (ICOP), a network of investigation, analytic, incident response, and operational trust and safety (T&S) professionals from GIFCT member companies who meet monthly. ICOP and its monthly meetings build off-of and iterate-on the GIFCT’s working group structure, and foster a community of mutual learning between GIFCT and its members. Through ICOP, GIFCT hopes to create an ongoing and practical partnership with member T&S practitioner teams. Specifically, ICOP will serve as a destination for members and GIFCT staff to learn from one another, and brainstorm new GIFCT information sharing solutions. Periodically, ICOP will leverage external experts to provide substantive input for participants in the form of dedicated topic-oriented briefs.
Each ICOP session will be focused on a challenge facing T&S operation teams. Each topic will be explored along 3 valences to guide the group’s discussion. These valences are (1) threat landscape, (2) best practices, and (3) collective/GIFCT solutions. Sessions may include a combination of member-company presentation, structured group discussion, and GIFCT solutions focus group.
Artificial Intelligence: Threats and Opportunities: This Working Group seeks to consolidate and establish actionable, cross-sector best practices and standards for AI safety products related to exploitation by terrorist and violent extremist (TVE) actors. Drawing from industry experience, the group will map TVE threats, identify effective mitigation strategies, and analyze overlaps in different companies’ approaches to develop best practices tailored to specific product types. This effort will be conducted in collaboration with government and civil society practitioners to incorporate diverse perspectives and ensure comprehensive, sector-wide impact.
Addressing Youth Radicalization and Mobilization: This Working Group is focussed on identifying the current trends in youth radicalization and mobilization, and identifying lessons learned from prevention and positive intervention strategies to address these dynamics. This group will aim to highlight best practices while connecting industry, practitioners, and experts to enhance cross-sector efforts. Through a series of structured multistakeholder dialogues, this group will map evolutions in both the threats and responses, considering in particular how terrorists and violent extremists have targeted younger audiences online.
The group will examine lessons learned from practice and programs, including positive interventions, counter-speech or “counter-narrative” work, and wider PCVE engagements, building on from previous GIFCT Working Groups. Key findings and insights gleaned from the group, as well as the identification of relevant tools and resources, will help equip practitioners in online safety efforts to build resilience in young online users and further positive intervention efforts.
Join us in shaping the future of online safety. Apply to participate in a GIFCT 2025 Working Group by March 14th and contribute your expertise to this critical mission.
The following is an Insight from GIFCT’s Membership & Programs Lead, Dr. Nagham El Karhili, and Senior Director, Dr. Erin Saltman.
2025 Working Groups Application
