NORDREF's Planned Activities for 2026 and Annual Report '24-'25

The Nordic Digital Rights and Equality Foundation (NORDREF) was founded on the vision to work towards equality and democracy in the Nordic region by developing and sharing knowledge about digital rights and responsibilities, while protecting people's right to safely partake in discussions and other activities online.

In the 2024 and 2025, we worked towards this goal in the following ways:

·       Through research, such as #HateFYP and If I Were Boss of the Internet

·       Through the creation of evidence-based tools to counter online abuse and further democratic participation in digital spaces, such as the Eggplant Bot

·       Through idea exchange and networking, such as our Game Changing Conference in Gothenburg University, expert working groups, researcher training camps etc.

·       Through awareness-raising and education, such as chatfictions, lectures and workshops

·       Through Nordic collaboration, such as in the #HateFYP project and Turning EU Laws into Action project, as well as the Game Changer

The Game Changer: Phase 2 (2024-2026)

The results of NORDREF‘s 2023 research into technologically facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) laid the foundation for the Game Changer, an international collaboration whose first phase involved partners in Sweden, Finland and Iceland, including the E-sports Federation of Iceland (RÍSÍ), the Swedish gaming organisation SVEROK, the award-winning Finnish youth work Sua Varten Somessa, and the Violence Prevention School of Iceland (Ofsi). Game Changer Phase 1 started in September 2023, while the second phase will last through May 2026.

 Game Changer collaborators during a work meeting in Reykjavík, October 2024.

The Nordic Navigator

 

One of the flagship products of Game Changer 2 is the Nordic Navigator of Safety and Wellbeing in Gaming and Digital Spaces. It is founded on the vision that children in the Nordic region have an unequivocal right to be protected from abuse. Equally important is their right to be protected from becoming perpetrators of abuse themselves. The Nordic Navigator is designed to do both. It is built on the belief that much of the abusive behavior perpetrated online by youth can be countered using material that has already proven to be successful in terms of increasing emotional resilience and wellbeing, as well as improving social and communication skills.

When it comes to online abuse of children by adults, that too can be detected and prevented by increasing the awareness among teachers, youth workers and other professionals about digital harms and how to make online spaces safer for youth.

The Nordic Navigator offers a roadmap to outstanding resources from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland that combat a wide range of digital harms, from cyberbullying to sexual harassment, toxicity and risk behavior. Built on an intersectional foundation, this tool can be used to locate resources from all over the Nordic region to combat specific online harms rooted for example in racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, classism and ableism using multiple different formats, including teaching materials, games, films, campaigns, handbooks, hotlines, take-down guides, websites, anti-radicalization efforts, podcasts, online communities and more. Whether the youth that needs support is being abused, subjecting others to abuse or both, the Nordic Navigator offers measures for prevention, intervention and support.

The Nordic Digital Youth Embassy

Our Digital Youth Ambassadors were recruited in the spring of 2025 from some of the best and brightest young minds in the Nordic region. They are dedicated to making the internet a safer, more inclusive space for young people. By championing online safety, digital rights, and democratic participation, they engage directly with policymakers, social media platforms, and youth organizations to influence meaningful change. Through national and international conferences and assemblies, they share insights and best practices, analyze digital challenges across countries using the Nordic Navigator tool, and contribute to the development of long-term solutions that enhance online safety and inclusivity for youth.

Their work involves advocating for digital literacy and safer online environments, representing youth perspectives in policy discussions, and promoting inclusive digital cultures. They collaborate with public authorities, participate in virtual and in-person meetings across the Nordic region, and contribute to policy analysis to identify gaps and propose improvements in digital rights legislation.

In addition to their advocacy roles, Digital Youth Ambassadors actively engage their peers through digital initiatives designed to promote safe online practices and strengthen young people’s cyber citizenship. They help develop tools like the Nordic Navigator to combat online harms and create informational materials aimed at stakeholders to encourage the adoption of best practices. Leveraging social media and streaming platforms, they produce digital content that inspires and empowers young people to take an active role in shaping their digital futures. Last but not least, the Digital Youth Ambassadors are a proud part of the Game Changer project.

Game Changer collaborators during a work trip to Aarhus in January 2025

TURNING EU LAWS INTO ACTION

 

2025 was a fruitful year for NORDREF, partly because we were the happy recipients of two of the Nordic Gender Equality Fund’s seven announced grants for the year. One of these projects, called Turning EU Laws Into Action, aims to strengthen civil society’s ability to combat technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) by turning EU legislation — such as the Digital Services Act, the AI Act, and the Violence Against Women Directive — into concrete advocacy and support tools. The project addresses a critical knowledge gap among CSOs regarding how to interpret and leverage these laws effectively. Through Nordic collaboration, it will provide training, advocacy toolkits, and foster transnational partnerships. The desired outcome is improved implementation and enforcement of EU laws, enabling CSOs to better protect women and LGBTI individuals from online abuse and to hold digital platforms accountable.

Joining NORDREF in this project are the National Council of Women in Finland, Stígamót Center for Survivors of Sexual Violence as well as the Women‘s Shelter of Iceland as primary project partners, with shelters and institutions that work within violence prevention, victim support and women’s rights as secondary beneficiaries of the project’s outputs, which includes making a handbook and guidelines for frontline workers, empowering them to better support victims of TFGBV. Turning EU Laws Into Action is a two-year project, with final results presented at a conference in Finland in April 2027.

Part of the Expert Working Group in Reykjavík, October 2025

Why TURNING EU LAWS INTO ACTION is particularly important in 2026:

Because New Tech Brings New Harms: The rapid development of AI tools—such as image generators and voice synthesis—has introduced new avenues for gendered abuse, such as fake nudes, revenge porn, or impersonation. These tools are cheap, scalable, and difficult to trace, making it easier than ever for perpetrators to lock victims inside abusive relationships.

Because Safe Spaces are Shrinking: Alongside the major social media platforms and tech giants adapting anti-DEI policies in 2025, feminist content has been suppressed by moderation algorithms to an unprecedented degree and creators face disproportionate bans, making the online world less safe for the very people who once relied on it for community, visibility, and expression. In other words, it’s unlikely that the #metoo revolution could take place today.

Because of the Pervasiveness of Platform Algorithms: In 2026, social media platforms continue to rely heavily on engagement-driven algorithms that amplify sensationalist and polarizing content – including misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic narratives from violent, self-proclaimed misogynists like Andrew Tate. This makes digital spaces increasingly hostile for women and other marginalized groups. Algorithmic bias doesn’t just allow harm to spread – it accelerates it.

Because of Legal and Regulatory Gaps: Despite some policy advances, most legal systems still lag behind the realities of online abuse, with many national governments struggling to implement EU legislation pertaining to digital harms. Various forms of TFGBV, like deepfakes, coordinated harassment, or non-consensual image sharing, remain underregulated or poorly enforced, leaving survivors without meaningful recourse. The CSOs that support them are in dire need of up-to-date information on the legal environment of digital harms, but while gender-based violence remains an underfunded issue, they struggle to find the time and expert consultation necessary.

In short, 2025 made it clear: digital violence isn’t a side issue—it’s a frontline issue for human rights. It undermines freedom of expression, political participation, mental health, and bodily autonomy. From NORDREF’s standpoint, supporting CSOs to address TFGBV in their work is no longer optional — it's urgent.

#HateFYP

The other NORDREF project that received funding from the Nordic Gender Equality Fund in 2025 is called #HateFYP (with FYP being a common acronym on social media platforms that signifies content that algorhithms recommed “for your page”). The background to this project is the international backlash that is taking place against LGBTI rights, with increased stigmatization and a scaling back of civil liberties in the US and Europe. The Nordic region, has seen a rise in hate and intolerance as reported by national queer organisations. Similar attacks on the rights of queer people are taking place online. The project intends to track whether online platforms are pushing hate-driven indoctrination to users.

A 2024 study by Dublin City University found that brand new YouTube and TikTok accounts, registered as belonging to teenage boys, were exposed to anti-feminist content within 23 minutes. Within hours, over 75% of their feeds were filled with hate-driven narratives. Thus, social media algorithms risk radicalizing young men by feeding them hateful content at an alarming rate.

NORDREF along with project partners Transfemininiit from Finland and the National Queer Organisation of Iceland conducted a similar experiment in November 2025 — this time focusing on anti-trans content. Using new social media accounts with controlled search patterns, we sought to understand how TikTok and YouTube Shorts recommend transgender-related content to adolescent-coded users exploring the platforms via interest based hashtags, and what patterns of anti-trans, trans-ambivalent, and trans-supportive content emerged. The results will be analyzed in the spring of 2026 and presented in a conference in Reykjavík during the fall.

AWARENESS RAISING AND EDUCATION

In 2024 and 2025, NORDREF representatives spoke to thousands at conferences and lectures in Iceland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Poland. This included the Economic Forum in Poland in September 2025, where Digital Youth Ambassador of Iceland, Íris Þóra Birgisdóttir, represented NORDREF and the Game Changer project, while Arvid Roos Isaksson, Digital Youth Ambassador of Sweden, parttook in the United Against Online Abuse conference in Stockholm, to name a few.

 Arvid, the Swedish Digital Youth Ambassador, at the UAOA conference in 2025

RESEARCH

NORDREF along with partners in the Game Changer project asked youth in Sweden, Finland, and Iceland what they would change if they were the boss of the internet.The survey received over 1000 responses in the summer of 2024, with the average age of participants being 17-years old. Respondents identified across multiple genders. The results were as follows:

What Young People Do Online

Social media is central to young people’s online life. The most used platforms are Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat—seen as the “four pillars” of youth online presence. Youth use the internet mainly for:

o   hanging out with friends

o   watching videos

o   listening to music or podcasts

o   playing games

o   generally having a good time online

The main reason they like their platforms is because “my friends are there.”

Concerns and Negative Experiences

Though they spend a lot of time online, many young people do not feel safe there. The most common negative experiences reported were: Toxic and hateful culture

·       Hateful and degrading dialogue — racism, sexism, homophobia, queerphobia, xenophobia, ableism — was the most common complaint.

·       Mean comments and toxic behaviour upset them more than things like lack of likes or followers.

Upsetting content

·       Intrusive ads and pornographic pop-ups were frequently mentioned, as well as a lack of real safety. Many participants said they couldn’t even imagine feeling safe online, or thought safety was impossible without wider changes.

What Teens Would Change

Safer and kinder environment

·       Eliminate hateful behaviour

·       Ensure everyone feels equal and welcome

·       Promote respectful communication

Examples of responses included:

“I would take away all the evil.”

“I would make it a place where everyone can feel welcome.” 

Some responses expressed hopelessness, such as:

·       “I would delete the Internet.”

·       “I would ban social media.”

·       “I would change everything.”

Suggested Solutions from Youth

Participants offered many ideas about how to improve online spaces, such as:

 Better moderation

·       More active moderation by platforms

·       Tools to filter or promptly remove hateful or harmful content

·       Suggestions ranged from banning certain words to removing comments entirely.

Improved reporting and enforcement

·       Youth want reporting to lead to real consequences

·       Ideas included banning repeat offenders or implementing tiered punishment.

 Accountability and identity

·       Many advocated against online anonymity

·       Suggestions included linking accounts to real IDs so people must take responsibility for their words

Child protection

·       Some suggested age restrictions or special protections for children

·       Ideas included limiting children’s access or banning adults who harass minors.

 Social boundaries and contact limits

·       Many said they want stronger barriers to prevent strangers from contacting them

·       They want control over who can message or interact with them.

Support and enforcement staff

·       Youth expressed interest in real people available to help when things go wrong, including trained moderators or adult support figures.

Overall, the solutions young people proposed focused on greater respect, clearer rules and consequences, better moderation tools, and a safer social environment online — not just more fun or entertainment.

Key Insight

Despite frustration and concern about safety, most respondents still want to use the internet and see it as a valuable space — but not without rules, accountability and stronger protections against harm.

Click to view the presentation by researcher and Board member Eygló Árnadóttir, delivered in Gothenburg, Sweden, October 2024.