Emily Thompson
Consultant, Christchurch Call Foundation; Consultant, Simon Wiesenthal Center
2025
Emily Thompson is an expert on the exploitation of digital platforms, social media and video games by violent extremists. As an experienced researcher and program director, she works to build understanding and resilience against hateful and harmful ideologies that threaten civil society. Emily combines subject matter expertise in terrorist and violent extremist content with curriculum and program development to design effective, innovative educational programming. Over the past 12 years, she has provided critical insights for law enforcement, policy makers, social media and gaming platforms, and educators, about the threats posed by hate groups and radical ideologies. Emily was the program director for an interactive student workshop designed to introduce media literacy skills and provide tools for young people to deal with hate online that has served over 60,000 students in the USA. Emily’s current projects including designing curriculum for the Christchurch Call Foundation to educate about violent extremism and online video games and using inoculation theory to confer psychological resilience to antisemitism for the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance.
My network of professionals working on countering hate in all its forms grew exponentially after attending Eradicate Hate in 2021. The myriad voices represented at Eradicate Hate, from big tech companies to academic researchers to those with lived experience, reinforced to me the importance of cross-cutting and collaborative approaches to counter hate and its devastating impacts on society. I’ve been fortunate to sustain and build those networks with many of those I met at Eradicate Hate in 2021.
