Imagine you’re a hummingbird who just signed up for CHIRP, a new social media platform that connects you with friends.

As you get started on the platform, follow requests begin rolling in from accounts you’re unfamiliar with. Can you determine the difference between birds of a feather and those engaged in fowl play?

The Combatting Harmful Information and Resisting Pressures (CHIRP) Project—developed this semester by a team of 11 AU students in Professor Cynthia Miller-Idriss’ Terrorism, Extremism, and Education course—puts middle schoolers ages 11–14 through that exercise.

By determining the trustworthiness of bird-centric content on a fictional Twitter-esque platform, the interactive game and supporting educational curriculum teaches players real-world skills about how to identify and resist manipulative content online.

At the end of April, AU students tested the efficacy of their game and lesson plans in three classes at a private DC school.

“Rather than convincing kids to stay offline, we wanted to engage with what they’re doing and teach them how to be more productive and safer,” said team leader Kyra Thordsen, SPA/BA ’24.

While the project was part of their grade, the Eagles worked closely with the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) to submit their work to Invent2Prevent. The nationwide competition funded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) challenges high school and college students to create and implement their own products, tools, or initiatives to address acts of violence, hate, or terrorism.

This year, AU’s fourth student-led team has focused on addressing misogynistic rhetoric. The AU project aligns with a key DHS priority of identifying, addressing, and preventing gender-based violence—an emerging national security concern. Over the last decade, several perpetrators of mass violence incidents, including the Uvalde, Texas, shooter, have been linked to the consumption and spread of male supremacy content online.

In February 2024, a report from British researchers found that social media algorithms are normalizing sexism and misogyny among young people by presenting harmful content as entertainment. Over five days of TikTok usage, for example, the study found there was a four-fold increase in the level of misogynistic content being presented on users’ “for you” pages.

“We really underestimate how much harmful content kids are exposed to all day, every day, online,” said Miller-Idriss, PERIL’s founding director, who holds a joint appointment in AU’s School of Public Affairs and School of Education. “They describe it to us [as] a steady stream of racist and sexist content, just ugly, violent stuff, and they don’t know who to talk to about it.”

Misogynistic influencers like Andrew Tate have also gained a huge following online among boys and young men for content that celebrates violence against women.

“The spread of misinformation, hate, and misogyny is happening more and more online,” said Zoe Moga, CAS/BA ’26. “But what [kids] see online, they take into real life and that has real impacts on their peers and friends.”

AU’s current team has also been mentored by their predecessor, the Developing and Using Critical Comprehension team that won first place at the 2022 Invent2Prevent for a video they developed to teach third graders what they read online isn’t always true. After the competition, that team was awarded an $800,000 grant to continue working for PERIL full-time. 

If selected as a finalist for the 2024 Invent2Prevent competition, AU’s team would present in-person at DHS in June for a chance to receive up to $10,000 in funding to develop their idea even further.

“There are some great projects this year, so it’s going to be stiff competition,” Miller-Idriss said. “But I think they’ve got a really good idea. Even if they don’t win, I’m super proud of them. They made a real difference.”