International cooperation projectsTogether against Cyberhate and for Democracy

8 December 2025, by Anna Priebe

Photo: AdobeStock / Fabio / AI-generated

How can we protect children and teenagers from hate online? Together with researchers from Ukraine, Moldova, and Kyrgyzstan, a team from the Faculty of Education is investigating effective prevention and intervention strategies. Project coordinator Julia Levin tells us about this project, which is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Children and teenagers are regularly confronted with violence, hatred, and bullying online. What kind of statistics does the research show?

Overall, we find that up to 60 percent of teenagers surveyed have experienced a form of online hate themselves at least once, and up to 30 percent have been involved as perpetrators. This has been shown by numerous major studies—both in Germany and internationally. These studies investigate the various forms of hate on the Internet such as cyberbullying directed at individuals and cyberhate against groups.

The group has conducted several studies in the four countries involved. What findings can be gleaned from the initial results?

Our first goal was to describe the current situation in Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, and Germany. To achieve this, we surveyed children, teenagers, and young adults between the ages of 9 and 25. In Ukraine, for example, we conducted a cross-sectional study with more than 5,000 children and teenagers. We looked at how often they were victims of hate on the Internet and how often they have spread hate themselves. In addition, we are also interested in whether and how Russia’s hybrid war is reflected on the Internet in the form of hatred and bullying.

From the initial results, we can already see that cyberhate and cyberbullying are often linked. This means that teenagers are attacked online because they belong to a certain group that is the focus of cyberhate. In addition, if children are the victim of cyberbullying and cyberhate, they are more likely to spread hate online themselves. We are also interested in what protective factors against cyberhate are already in place and how they work.

Are there any initial findings that show differences between the countries?

We are still looking at the data from the individual studies that we conducted in the four participating countries. Since we used the same instruments in all of the studies, we will be able to later analyze the findings in a country comparison. But that is still pending. What we are already seeing in the study in Ukraine is that the number of children who have been confronted with hate online tends to be slightly higher in an international comparison, but not by much. Within the country, however, there are no differences between the experiences of respondents from the active war zones in the east and the quieter western part of Ukraine, for example. However, the war is also always present there as well because of the constant drone attacks.

Did the war have an impact on the research itself?

In general, the bombings and evacuations have led education in Ukraine to become highly digitalized. Children and teenagers are therefore using the Internet a lot, and there is definitely a need to raise awareness about hate content. At the same time, the surveys we conducted show that people there have not slept through the night for years because of the attacks and alarms. They are worn down and emotionally drained. This makes it challenging to carry out studies and training. You need to be sensitive and use trauma-sensitive approaches. For example, we provided training for the educators working with the interviewees and gave the children and teenagers contact persons if they needed to talk further after the study. In view of the challenges, however, we believe it is all the more important to continue with our research and use the findings to help the people there.

So it’s about prevention and finding the right way to deal with hate on the Internet?

Right. We have tried out various approaches to this in the past year, which we now want to test further. There are a number of research approaches used in Germany and internationally that work quite well. So we don’t necessarily want to invent something new, but rather examine how existing approaches can be adapted to the circumstances in specific countries. We also organized a Summer School and other events to help researchers in the field network.

The children should be able to name what they are seeing

Where is the best place to start?

We believe that it is most important to start with education and awareness-raising. The children should be able to name what they see. For example, was the content created by a bot or did it come from a real person? Recognizing this helps immensely. They also learn how to block or report content and what legal options are available. This is known as technical coping in the context of cyberhate.

However, when it comes to prevention, it is important to always look at the children’s environment. They need to know where they can get social support if they are the victim of hate or bullying—whether it’s teachers, educators, parents, or friends. This is why we also address these groups with our interventions. For example, we are researching how to best support teachers and how to educate parents about the dangers. In Ukraine, school principals were also specially trained to implement programs in their schools.

Are there already ideas how the findings can be put into practice in Hamburg?

Yes, we are currently talking to a Hamburg foundation about possibilities to work together on a joint school project. And in November, we will be organizing a workshop on gaming for Kijuga, a non-profit organization from Berlin, as part of a Franco–German youth exchange. The hate that occurs in this area is again very specific; there is a lot of sexist and misogynistic content. So in this workshop, we will try out and further test various instruments we have developed.

What would you say, how important was the international partnership for this topic?

The special feature of our project is the focus on three Eastern European, post-Soviet countries, where there have been very few studies on this topic to date. In addition, war has been raging in Ukraine for three years, and in this time Russia has been spreading propaganda in the digital space through “troll factories.” Moldova and Kyrgyzstan are located in the Russian-speaking world and are the focus of anti-European narratives—and hybrid warfare is also clearly noticeable in Western Europe. For example, there has been a shift to the right across Europe, which has partly resulted from the spread of information online against groups such as immigrants, certain religions, and the LGBTQ community.

As a result, we must look together at how we can empower our young generation to deal critically with information on the Internet. We can learn from each other and develop approaches for taking country-specific circumstances into account in prevention programs. In this way, our project can make an important contribution to strengthening our democracies.