Horizon Europe-funded Project Completes Three-Year Mission to Combat Radicalization
30 April 2024 marks the conclusion of the CounteR Project, titled “Countering radicalization for a safer world: privacy-first situational awareness platform for violent terrorism and crime prediction, counter radicalization and citizen protection.”
The project’s standout achievement is the Counter Platform, an advanced early-warning system designed to identify radical content online. Operational in 12 languages, the CounteR Platform offers proactive content monitoring across various online platforms, including the open, deep, and dark webs. It is equipped to detect and moderate radical content, extremist ideologies, and hate speech, employing text and image analysis. This tool aids law enforcement agencies, internet providers, and social media platforms in identifying and addressing radicalization threats effectively.
“Unlike tools that only focus on one form of extremism, CounteR detects content across a variety of radicalization domains, including jihadism and extremist ideologies. This ensures a comprehensive and holistic approach to monitoring and combating radical content online. The Platform is definitely not the only project result. The multidisciplinary team of CounteR is also proud of the valuable research findings produced within the project that helped tremendously for understanding the psychological and sociological dynamics of radicalization”, CounteR’s project coordinator, Catalin Trufin from Assist Software, commented.
Representing our country within the CounteR consortium is Imagga Technologies, part of a network comprising 19 esteemed organizations across 11 member states.
“Data science specialists meticulously analyzed extensive datasets to uncover patterns and trends. Leveraging advanced algorithms, project experts developed sophisticated tools for detecting and predicting indicators of radicalization. Utilizing Social Network Analysis (SNA) methodologies, our experts facilitated the identification of radicalization hotspots, key nodes, and communities within these networks,” stated Georgi Kostadinov from Imagga Technologies.
Building on the groundwork laid during the project, the consortium remains committed to harnessing its findings and further refining them into a practical, finalized product. Proactive measures are underway to secure additional funding, ensuring the sustained development of the CounteR solution and its progression to the next phase.
For more information on the project, follow CounteR on X and LinkedIn, visit the CounteR website, and explore the full set of project newsletters.
The CounteR project is funded through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program and is presented under call for proposals H2020-SU-SEC-2020 with project ID 101021607.