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.
The effort to eradicate hate requires the active participation of every component of our society, to include governments, the private sector, communities of faith and indeed every aspect of civil society. There is no more urgent task in front of us. The organizers of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit are doing the United States and the world an enormous service by tackling hatred and extremism with a focus on honest dialogue and conversation, genuine learning and practical solutions. This will not happen overnight, but the Pittsburgh community’s leadership in this effort is genuinely inspiring and motivating.
