🟦 Political, Hate-Based, and Digital Violence
Organizations working to counter intimidation, extremism, online threats, and violence in public life
This guide is part of a series on Violence Prevention and Community Safety. Check its Introduction for an overview of the series, its goals, and other guides in the series.
Political violence, hate-based threats, extremism, and digital harassment can silence people, intimidate communities, and weaken democracy.
This guide highlights organizations working to prevent violence, counter hate and extremism, protect vulnerable communities, defend civic participation, and support people targeted by threats online or in public life.
Top advocacy organizations
Anti-Defamation League | ADL Pacific Northwest
ADL works to counter antisemitism, extremism, online hate, hate crimes, domestic terrorism, and identity-based harassment. Its Center on Extremism, online hate resources, incident tracking tools, education programs, and regional offices make it one of the most active and visible organizations in this field.
Based in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain States, it works nationally to strengthen inclusive democracy and help local leaders, schools, libraries, governments, and community organizations respond to white nationalism, organized bigotry, anti-democracy movements, and political violence.
Over Zero focuses on preventing identity-based violence and group-targeted harm, including violence tied to religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, politics, and other identities. Its work is especially useful for people interested in communication, conflict prevention, and reducing the social conditions that can lead to violence.
The Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University tracks and analyzes political violence, threats, crisis response, and de-escalation efforts in the United States. Its research and community safety resources can help local leaders and activists understand risks before they escalate.
Life After Hate helps people leave violent hate and extremist movements. Its work is important because preventing violence also means helping people disengage from extremist groups, online hate spaces, and violent identities before more harm occurs.
Committee for Safe and Secure Elections
The Committee for Safe and Secure Elections brings together election officials and law enforcement to protect election workers and voters from violence, threats, and intimidation. It offers practical resources for safer elections, including law enforcement guides and planning tools.
The Brennan Center researches domestic terrorism, hate crimes, counterterrorism policy, political violence, election threats, civil liberties, and government overreach. It is especially useful for understanding how to respond to extremism without expanding abusive or discriminatory policing powers.
Right To Be works to end harassment and discrimination through training, storytelling, bystander intervention, and online abuse resources. Its tools are useful for activists, journalists, public officials, community leaders, and ordinary people targeted by harassment online or in public spaces.
PEN America | Online Harassment Field Manual
PEN America provides practical guidance for writers, journalists, activists, and organizations facing online abuse. Its field manual includes safety planning, documentation, reporting, escalation, legal considerations, and links to organizations that help people targeted by online harassment.
Coalition Against Online Violence
The Coalition Against Online Violence, founded by the International Women’s Media Foundation, supports women journalists and others facing online abuse, harassment, digital attacks, and threats intended to silence public voices.
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
SPLC’s Intelligence Project has long tracked white supremacy, anti-democracy extremism, hate groups, and conspiracy-driven movements. The Trump Justice Department is pursuing charges related to SPLC’s alleged use of paid informants inside extremist groups. SPLC disputes the allegations and says its work helped law enforcement prevent violence.
This guide was built to be used. Please share it with people, groups, and local organizers who could put it to work.
Related guides
Confronting Hate, Extremism, and Authoritarianism—in the Rights and Freedoms section
A ranked guide to organizations working to expose, resist, and prevent movements that threaten civil rights, human dignity, and democratic norms.
Inclusive Language—in the Clear Writing section
Writing that respects people and makes meaning clear.
Top related issues
Political violence and intimidation: Threats, attacks, and harassment aimed at elected officials, election workers, activists, journalists, judges, public employees, protesters, and voters.
Hate-based violence: Violence or threats targeting people because of race, religion, ethnicity, immigration status, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or other identity.
White nationalism and organized bigotry: Movements that use racism, antisemitism, anti-immigrant hostility, anti-LGBTQ+ hatred, misogyny, or conspiracy theories to recruit, intimidate, and build power.
Online harassment and digital threats: Coordinated abuse, doxxing, stalking, impersonation, threats, swatting, and platform manipulation meant to silence people or make them afraid to participate in public life.
Election-related threats: Intimidation of election workers, voters, candidates, and public officials, including threats tied to false claims about election fraud.
Extremist recruitment and radicalization: Efforts to draw people into violent or hate-based movements through online communities, propaganda, grievance politics, conspiracy theories, or social isolation.
Threats against journalists and writers: Abuse and intimidation aimed at discouraging reporting, commentary, investigation, and public truth-telling.
Community safety and de-escalation: Local efforts to recognize risk, reduce tension, protect vulnerable people, and respond to threats without encouraging vigilantism or unnecessary escalation.
Civil liberties and accountability: Responses to extremism must protect people from violence while avoiding broad surveillance, discriminatory policing, or laws that can be misused against protesters and marginalized communities.
Democratic participation: Political and hate-based violence are not only public safety issues. They are attacks on people’s willingness to speak, vote, organize, run for office, report the news, and serve their communities.