LocationsCountering Extremism in the Digital Age:
Empowering Faith Leaders through Localized Narratives
By Hamza Ijaz | Digital Violent Extremism Prevention Expert, PLEDGE Project, UNDP Pakistan
UNDP’s Preventing Violent Extremism work positions faith leaders as trusted messengers, equipping them with the digital literacy and communication tools to actively counter hate speech, mis/disinformation, and Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence online.
In April 2023, a chilling video became viral on Pakistani social media, showing an Islamic State - Khorasan Province (ISKP) militant recording in front of Islamabad’s Serena Hotel and a local police facilitation centre, followed by a warning: We are coming.1 The more disturbing aspect, however, was that subsequent investigation revealed that video was recorded by a young university student living in Islamabad, who had been self-radicalized through ISKP propaganda in gaming and digital spaces.2 This also reemphasized a shifting threat matrix where extremist groups are increasingly weaponizing the digital sphere. By recruiting tech-savvy urban youth as decentralized
freelancers, Violent Extremist Organizations (VEOs) exploit algorithms, encrypted apps, and online subcultures to mainstream radical ideologies, all the while evading detection.
The Digital Landscape for Online Radicalization
The rapidly changing digital landscape has fundamentally altered the proliferation of Violent Extremism (VE), allowing extremist networks to exploit online platforms with sophisticated, transnational messaging.3 The VE actors no longer rely on physical networks alone but operate within digital spaces, targeting potential recruits through online forums, encrypted messaging apps, as well as gaming and gaming-adjacent platforms. Moreover, algorithms on social media platforms further aid the reinforcement of certain ideologies by creating echo chambers, where violent extremist views are normalized.4 As a result, the average radicalization timeline has contracted dramatically from 18 months in 2005 to merely a few weeks today.5
The Violent Extremist Organizations (VEOs) are also increasingly exploiting gender stereotypes to target marginalized groups, utilizing Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) and deepfakes to normalize misogyny as a recruitment tactic. The digital drive towards radicalization has also led to a decentralization of violent extremist architecture that promotes self-radicalization and lone-wolf actors, mostly targeting children and youth.3
All of these developments create a set of unique challenges that most governments and institutions are not fully equipped to understand and deal with on their own. With Pakistan's growing digital penetration, young individuals spending considerable time online are increasingly susceptible to these sophisticated, transnational messages tailored to local socio-economic and political grievances.
Strengthening Local Voices to Counter Radicalization Narratives
Countering these digital phenomena requires more than fact-checking or platform moderation. It requires locally resonant voices capable of intercepting these narratives before they take hold. This is the premise behind UNDP Pakistan's Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) work, part of a broader eight-country regional initiative across Asia, and implemented in Pakistan through the PLEDGE Project. Rather than treating faith leaders as bystanders to digital radicalization, PLEDGE positions them as trusted messengers, equipping them with the digital literacy and communication tools to actively counter hate speech, mis/disinformation, and TFGBV online.
The project is premised on the hypothesis that faith-based leaders carry significant influence and authority and can also act as a crucial line of defense against exclusion and hatred. However, the First National Consultation with 20 religious scholars, academics, and influencers, organized in June 2026, revealed that many religious actors have limited fluency in the digital spaces where radicalization now happens fastest. Many were unfamiliar with how algorithmic amplification works, how disinformation spreads, or how online gender-based harassment is coordinated. Consequently, they are unable to translate their religious authority into an effective online response.
To bridge this gap and design context-specific interventions, the PLEDGE team utilized a "Message House" framework to translate overarching ethical principles into structured, actionable digital messages with the support of these faith-based leaders. The participants developed localized counter-narratives mapped directly to specific digital threats:
Countering Misinformation: Participants highlighted the Islamic principles of Tabayyun (investigating the truth), Sidq (truthfulness), Shahaadah (testimony) and Tehqeeq (research) as the primary defense against the algorithmic amplification of fake news.
Addressing TFGBV: The group promoted Sitr/Satr (hiding the faults of others), Muhasibah (self-reflection) and Haya (modesty) to directly counter the culture of doxxing, non-consensual image sharing, and cyberbullying against women.
Countering Hate Speech & Violence: The framework utilized Aadab e Ikhtilaaf (ethics of disagreement), Karamah (gratitude and moral excellence), Rahmah (compassion), Huqooq-ul-Ibaad (supreme value of human rights) and Hilm (suppressing anger) to foster social cohesion and prevent online trolling from escalating into violence.
Experimental Social Media Campaign and Results
Putting theory into practice, these structured, faith-informed narratives were integrated into an experimental social media campaign. The initiative deliberately moved away from abstract anti-radicalization theories towards promoting active and responsible digital citizenship. It involved four young faith-based influencers and targeted a single social media platform, Instagram. The campaign yielded interesting results, achieving approximately half a million (500,000+) views over 17,800 likes, 1,500 shares, and 1,500 saves over a period of one month.
The performance metrics demonstrate that modern audiences respond favorably to clear, actionable frameworks for digital behavior rather than generalized moral lectures. By framing religious principles positively as tools for mutual respect and validation, the campaign successfully transformed digital uncertainty into constructive, safe, and engaging peacebuilding.
What Did This Demonstrate?
The initiative demonstrated that faith-based messaging can act as a potent catalyst for digital resilience when it grounds modern netiquette in culturally resonant concepts. This means that positive and constructive framing by faith-based actors can lower defensiveness and increase receptivity, both for the leaders delivering the message and the audiences receiving it, thereby encouraging internal self-reflection and making audiences far more receptive to dismantling hate speech, misinformation, and TFGBV.
However, as the technology gap between malicious actors and local religious figures continues to widen, building the digital capacity of faith-based leaders is an urgent necessity. The pilot's scale is a proof of concept, not yet a programme; by equipping trusted, faith-based leaders with digital literacy and strategic communication frameworks, we can transform them into empowered digital peacebuilders capable of navigating algorithmic polarization. Moving forward, sustaining this momentum requires expanding Training of Trainers (ToT) programs to district-level seminaries, integrating digital citizenship into formal religious and school curricula, building Communities of Practice, and engaging tech platforms to build inclusive and safe digital public spaces.
What the PLEDGE experience shows, ultimately, is that faith-based actors are not a soft addendum to PVE work: when equipped with the right tools, they are one of the most effective messengers capable of reaching audiences before extremist narratives do.
- Counter Extremism Project (2023). “Afghanistan Terrorism Report: April 2023.” Counter Extremism Project. Available at: https://www.counterextremism.com/blog/afghanistan-terrorism-report-april-2023
- The Khorasan Diary (2023). “Creeping Ideology: The Generation Z Freelancers of the ISKP.” The Khorasan Diary, 31 August. Available at: https://thekhorasandiary.com/en/2023/08/31/tkd-exclusive-creeping-ideology-the-generation-z-freelancers-of-the-iskp
- United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (2025). Trends Alert: Children and Youth Exploitation. Available at: https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/ctc/sites/www.un.org.securitycouncil.ctc/files/trends_alert_-_children_youth_exploitation_-_2025.pdf
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). “Targeted by Terrorists: Child Recruitment, Exploitation and Reintegration in Indonesia, Iraq and Nigeria.” Available at: www.unodc.org/unodc/en/justice-and-prison-reform/strive/targeted-by-terrorists_-child-recruitment-exploitation-and-reintegration-in-indonesia--iraq-and-nigeria.html
- Institute for Economics & Peace (2026). Global Terrorism Index 2026. Available at: https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Global-Terrorism-Index-2026-Report.pdf