DeZIM_talk | Marginalized and courted.

Digital platforms like TikTok have long been more than just places for entertainment. They are social spaces where a sense of belonging, orientation, and political expression are negotiated. Digital platforms are also places where competing political and religious narratives vie for attention. This raises the increasingly pressing question of what role digital public spheres play in polarization, social conflicts, and potential radicalization dynamics.

For young Muslims, these platforms are spaces for visibility, community-building, and identity negotiation. At the same time, they are spaces where young Muslims are confronted with discrimination, competing narratives, and political or religious appeals that promise belonging, recognition, and orientation.
 

Current empirical studies show that radicalization processes rarely begin with overtly extremist content. Problematic forms of discourse often tie into everyday experiences, the search for belonging, and social conflicts. It is precisely here that challenges for prevention and political education lie.
The DeZIM_talk takes these ambivalences as its starting point.

Following an introductory presentation by Dr. Nader Hotait on key findings from current research, we will discuss with representatives from politics, academia, and prevention practice about the limitations of common explanatory models, platform logics, and social conflicts, as well as the question of what options for action politics and civil society actually have under these conditions.

The focus is on how prevention can be designed without further reinforcing societal stereotypes and experiences of exclusion. Another key question is what responsibility platforms bear and what form regulation that addresses algorithmic dynamics might take. The goal is to strengthen social participation and make the complexity of these dynamics visible, rather than reducing them to oversimplified narratives of radicalization.

KEY QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. How do radicalization dynamics emerge in the digital space, and where do current explanatory models reach their limits?
    
2. What role do platform logics and algorithmic amplification play, and where are their effects overestimated in public discourse?
    
3. How are experiences of discrimination linked to interpretations relevant to radicalization, and why do certain types of content appeal to some young people while others barely react to them?
    
4. What options for action are available to policymakers and practitioners when many connections remain unclear, and where do conflicting goals arise between prevention, regulation, and social participation? 

PARTICIPANTS 

• Honey Deihimi, Head of the Democracy and Engagement Division, Federal Ministry of Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth 
• Dr. Nader Hotait, Research Associate, DeZIM Institute / Humboldt University of Berlin 
• Dr. Götz Nordbruch, Co-Executive Director, ufuq.de 
• Dr. Friedhelm Hartwig, Research Fellow at Modus | zad, Center for Applied Deradicalization Research 

MODERATOR

• Maida Ganević, Advisor for Interreligious Cooperation, BAG RelEx