Simone Rafael

Simone Rafael started her career as a journalist in Berlin, and began working against right-wing extremism on the internet in 2002 when she developed a best-practice website for the Amadeu Antonio Foundation (AAS), www.mut-gegen-rechte-gewalt.de. She also acted as the chief editor of German magazine “Stern” until 2005. Continuing her work for AAS, in 2009 Rafael became the chief editor of www.netz-gegen-nazis.de, the journalistic internet portal against right-wing extremism in partnership with the German newspaper “Die ZEIT.” She has spearheaded AAS’s campaigns against right-wing extremism online, including “Social Networks against Nazis” and “Generation 50+ on the Internet against Nazis” in 2010. In 2012 she invented the project “No-Nazi.Net” to work with young people, nonprofits, schools, and internet platforms to promote democracy and fight hate speech in the virtual world. The German Federal Ministry of Justice appointed her to the “Task Force on dealing with Hate Speech Online” in 2015. This work grew into the Online Civil Courage Initiative, a partnership with Facebook to counter hate speech on social platforms.

Simone Rafael and the Amadeu Antonio Foundation (AAS) are among Europe’s premier experts on far-right extremism and strategies for combating hate speech in the digital age. Rafael has been appointed to a federal German task force on the topic and received government recognition for her work. In Germany she also received the “Alternative Media Award” in 2007, the “Civil Media Award” in 2010, and the “Klicksafe Award for Internet Security” in 2013. Her work with Facebook on the Online Civil Courage Initiative in Europe has also received widespread recognition from the public and private sectors.