Brussels 06.08.2025 The European Union has handed nearly €1 million to a Berlin-based NGO to tackle so-called online hate speech in South Sudan. The project, titled Defy Hate Now, claims to develop community-led, data-driven strategies to combat hate speech, disinformation, and incitement to violence on social media.
Desinformation und Hassrede, ganz klar die größten Probleme im Südsudan. https://t.co/Z4C6SbwY2U pic.twitter.com/8buKrPG6GC
— Janina Lionello (@janinisabel) August 5, 2025
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Funded from March 2023 to September 2025 through the EU’s Global Europe: Instrument for Neighborhood, Development and International Cooperation, the NGO is set to receive €999,995 for the initiative. Between 2020 and 2022, it was already granted a further €214,300.
The project was launched in 2014 by the Berlin-based group r0g_agency under the same name.
Yet despite this generous public funding, the project shows little sign of meaningful activity. Its Twitter account has been largely inactive, with the last original post dating back to September 2023, the last retweet to November 2024, and no updates to the South Sudan section of its website since December 2023.
Desinformation und Hassrede, ganz klar die größten Probleme im Südsudan. https://t.co/Z4C6SbwY2U pic.twitter.com/8buKrPG6GC
— Janina Lionello (@janinisabel) August 5, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Project leader Marina Modi has spoken about the widespread nature of online hate speech and insists it requires heavily funded public campaigns. However, transparency over how EU taxpayer money is being used—and whether the project is having any measurable impact—remains notably lacking.
AFRICA DIPLOMATIC 